See, once upon a time, Matt worked for AT&T Wireless.... the ORIGINAL AT&T Wireless, a small part of AT&T Corporate. And when he worked there, they used to work 3 days, 12 hour shifts, had 4 days off, then worked 4 days with 12 hour shifts with 3 days off, then they went and did it all over again. He used to joke about how he only worked 15 days a month. (Maybe it was more like 17, but still...)
Anyway, we used to do things like go to Seattle, Linden, Mt Vernon, Bellingham, Snoqualmie Falls, Centralia, Deception Pass, Olympia, Portland.... the list goes on. And we used to do these little trips regularly. Sometimes two or three times a month, and usually on Fridays. Matt would rest on Thursday, then we would poof off to destinations that were unknown to me. It was fun, and for someone like me, who grew up doing things like that on a weekly basis over the countryside of Germany and France, it was amazingly comforting.
Sadly when Cingular bought AT&T, things changed, mainly their hours and what days they worked. At first, for a short time, they worked 5 day, 40 hour weeks. And at the time, the upper management listened when complaints were made and went back to the 3/4 day work weeks. And then Cingular became AT&T again, (only by that time, AT&T had been bought up by a different company and wasn't the AT&T of before) and they went back to the 5 day, 40 hour weeks. Because for a night shift worker, there was simply no time between work weeks for Matt to rest and wander as we once had. And asking me to drive any further than I absolutely have to on a busy freeway? You might as well try moving Mt Rainier to a different state. Ain't gonna happen. My adventurous streak melted faster than you can say.... well, I can't even spell that word, so pick a really long word like the one in Mary Poppins.
And then he was terminated from AT&T... and the doors to adventure re-opened! (I like that word, terminated, much better than fired.) While we have been being careful with our limited funds, we have still managed to do a few things like we had once upon a time. Granted, those things were simply like a walk to the park while the kids were at school, or a day in Woodinville day dreaming at the furniture store. Adventures that weren't really adventures, but they were fun none the less.
But as fun as having him home was, it's even better having him home for a weekend... a real "worked all week, 4 12 hour shifts in a row, I deserve a fun break" weekend. And so far we've had so much fun on his first real weekend! So much so that he was a little sadden this morning, thinking he had to work tomorrow... until he realized it's FRIDAY and he has a-whole-nother day left to his weekend!!!! Yesterday it was trip to IKEA to look at bed frames to replace ours, apurchase that is a couple more weeks away, but I want the right one so we're looking carefully. Today, we were planing on a trip to Snoqualmie, but Sissy's best friend invited her to see the new Hannah Montana movie, so I think we'll be in Snoqualmie tomorrow. The reason I call such a short drive adventurous? We'll be looking at rental properties and CHURCHES! (I'm so very excited about that part there!)
Thank you, Lord, for this blessing. And thank you to all of you have kept my family in your prayers lately. We really appreciate them!
SMOOCHIES YA'LL!!!!! The rest of our weekend awaits!
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