Turning Grey with the weight of responsibility

You may have heard something in the news today. A company lays off a large number of employees. You think of us. No worries. We made the cut but Greg has come out of this far from unscathed. He is the one overseeing the chopping block. . Men and women .. . Some of whom he has secret handshakes with . Some of whom have cried on his shoulder. He cares about these people. They are his extended family. Making this cut is one of the hardest, most heartbreaking things he will ever do in his career. He has been carrying the knowledge of the weight of this responsibility for some time. Its nothing he could announce early.. there is a legal side of stock exchange and insider trading which requires secrecy leading up to such matters. It is nothing he would want to announce early.. panic.. stress reaching elevated levels prematurely. .. So knowing it has been coming has been something he has shouldered in relative silence. Today he finally was able to exhale and now begins the long hard process of a few days filled with back to back half hour long meetings with each designated employee to give them their termination interview. Some will go with dignity. Some in shock. Some in anger. Some in fear. Each and everyone of them.. a stone for him to carry. But he is heading into these heartbreaking meetings knowing that every available resource has been scoured up to help them all gain their feet. A decent severance package. Employment placing opportunities.. the works. Today he has to steel himself against sorrow and guilt. He must act with a certain amount of detached severity. And then tomorrow (or when the initial action is over) he will pause, he will feel and then he will weep for each of them… Who could hold back an ocean of tears that big for very long? In other news.. Willow now has rubber bands with her braces. Her jaw being pulled.. stretched. She aches. But in the end all of her teeth will fit in her mouth. Unfortunately pain is just part of the process. She is hanging in there though. Finally!! We have begun the journey of getting Connors allergies diagnosed and dealt with. Monday he had the skin testing as well as a respiratory test to see how his asthma is being taken care of. Turns out he is allergic to different trees, grass, mold, weeds, animals and dust/dust mites.. . most extremely to dust mites and dust. His asthma which I believed we have pretty well maintained .. turns out not so much. His normal breathing is quite restricted. Hes now trying advair. Poor guy. We have an appointment on Monday to plot our course of action. Life in all other ways is flowing along..business as usual and nothing to complain about. The time change came and I reset my own clock along with it by pulling an all nighter while Greg was in Orlando Florida. Oh.. Greg was in Florida last weekend for a Manufacturing Exposition. It offered a little calm and sun and fun before the storm. (I sent him out the door this morning with an extra hug and a goose for good measure.) We continue to get settled in with our new roomies and things seem to be progressing there with relative ease. Homeschooling.. we have our rhythm down and are working in block style. One subject done in depth per day rather many subjects scattered lightly across each day. And my highschooler, I think, has finally lengthened her stride a little bit and the grades are improving. Now lets see her keep it up!