STRESS

Would you like for me to define the reality of stress in our lives right now?

Yep, the American reality is now the Sink reality - Daniel was laid off 2 weeks ago.  It was totally unexpected and we were blindsided.  Daniel called me on May 10th - it was a Thursday - at about 4pm and asked "are you sitting down?".  Yeah, that never turns out well.  His company, Blueprint Automation, laid off 10% of its workforce, or 9 people total.  Panic set it and we were both a total wreck.  I immediately left work to be with him.  To throw a wrench in a terrible situation - his sister Ashley was graduating from Longwood on Saturday morning and his aunt & uncle were coming to stay with us that night.  Oh yeah, and Mother's Day was Sunday - sorry about that, moms.  We decided it would be best not to tell his family until after the entire weekend's festivities were over, which made our weekend all the more miserable - being happy on the outside, and freaking out inside.  After the shock was over (and sometimes it still creeps back up), we picked ourselves up and started to move on with our new reality.  Since then, we have made as many contacts as possible - literally telling everyone, because you never know who is looking for someone, Daniel has applied for unemployment (humbling, but a necessity), and we have tried our very best to stay positive and on the same team.  For better or worse, right?
We know this will be a better situation in the end - Daniel will find a job that he is much happier with.  Life is too short.  I don't take for granted my job for one second.  We appreciate our families and the support they've shown.  We know that they will not let us go hungry, which when you are in the middle of a panic attack thinking about paying bills - is very comforting.

I will definitely keep you updated on this... hopefully we will have news sooner rather than later!