Friends & A Day at the Park

After last year's Chinese New Year celebration put on by the FL office of GWCA, Jolene & I have developed a really nice friendship.  We speak constantly & really get each other. 

Even better is that our girls have become fast friends.  At the ripe old age of 7, Jade & Erin are just about the oldest girls in our local FCC chapter.  Up until this past year, they had always acknowledged each other but now they can't wait to have a playdate.  Jade's sister Emma has no problem keeping up with them!

Back in December, Jolene & I arranged to have breakfast together & go to a park afterwards.  It's so nice to see the girls playing together.  What I really like is that Erin has a friend who is in the same situation she is in - both Chinese, both adopted by non-Chinese parents.  Erin has a lot of friends like this up to and including her adored godsister.  However, having someone her own age is really nice because as they grow older, their commonalites will hopefully get them through the tough times that their parents know are coming.

Jolene

Erin, Jade & Emma

Making sure that they include Emma.

Let the giggles begin!

Just what is so funny girls!?

Fast friends!

Demo Team & Mouthpieces

This past Saturday Erin was invited to join the demo team by the captain of the karate school demo team.  Brittany has known Erin since she was 3 years old because she goes to the same synagogue that Erin went to for preschool.  Brittany is a black belt in karate (I don't remember how many levels though.) & has been one of the student instsuctors at the school.

Back in November Erin participated in a demo for our FCC group.  As the captain of the team, Brittany got to do a good portion of the demo with her.  The girls work together beautifully.  David & I have been told that Erin reminds the Sifus of Brittany at that age.  Brittany really seems taken with Erin which is lovely because Erin truly looks up to her.

So now Erin has to be at the karate school every Saturday at 9:00 am.  This is on top of the 2 classes she takes on Saturday & the 3 she takes during the week. 

So what do mouthpieces have to do with any of this?  Well, now that Erin has become a blue belt in karate, she gets to start sparring.  This will teach her how to put everything together - all of the kicks, punches & such are going to come together.  However, in order to spar, students need to wear protective gear.  This is really funny though. 

We paid for Erin's gear bag when she became a purple belt thinking we may as well lay out the money & be prepared.  That worked well.  Not.  Everything in Erin's gear bag is the absolute smallest size they were able to order.  The shin guards are longer than her legs.  The head protection covers her face so you can see 1 eye.   The boxing gloves & focus mits she'll have to grow into for a better fit.

The mouthpiece?  David cut it down pretty small, put it into boiling water & tried to get it to fit.  No dice.  Well no mouthpiece, no sparring.  I approached one of the instructors since Sifu was leading the class.  Mrs. C is an old childhood friend of David's so I was comfortable asking her what we could do.  She reminded me that a certain family member is a dentist who would probably love to help his niece.  Gee.  I hadn't thought of that.  Duh!

When we got home, I spoke with David about it.  He called his sister who told us that Erin had an appointment for this afternoon so Uncle Steven could help out.  I can't have any impressions made of my mouth due to a horrible gag reflex so I was worried all day long.

David called me when it was over to let me know that Uncle Steven charmed the pants off of his niece.  Again.  They were able to get a great impression & allowed Erin to choose what color her mouthpiece would be.  So some time next week, David & Erin will be picking up her rainbow, personalized mouthpiece!  Too cool!

All in all, it's good.  Erin has found a wonderful mentor in Brittany.  And she's been charmed by her Uncle Steven who noticed that she has 2 more loose teeth!

What a guy!

Last night was my turn to deal with the awful stomach virus that's going around at work.  After a perfectly relaxing evening of sushi & hanging with David & watching some of my Buffy dvd collection, I went to sleep.  And at midnight, I woke up to lose my stomach.  Erin was great running to go get David.  As scared as she was, she really helped.  David really isn't into the whole hanging around & holding hair back while you lose your stomach.

Once it was over, I was weak but desperately needed a shower.  He hung around to make sure I was alright.  When I was done, I could barely stand let alone comb my hair.  As I sat there crying because I felt awful & too weak to lift my arm, David combed out my hair.  my big lug of a guy who has no patience to be around people is so gentle & caring.

I've been feeling pretty off all day long, just weak & nauseaus.  David's been making sure that I get plenty of rest & eat things that won't set me off again.  He made sure that there was plenty of coke around to keep me settled.

Thanks David.  I love you.

Viv asked "Why?"

Viv wants to know why I haven't been blogging of late.   I guess she has an inquiring mind.  ;-)

2009 ended on a pretty sour note for me. 

A few weeks ago, I left my office to pick Erin up & bring her back so I could finish my day.  David had a dr appointment & wasn't going to be able to pick her up.  Since I had to work late, I told my boss that I'd need to bring Erin back to the office but that it would be easy.  I've done this before, & it's worked out well.

Before I left the office, Millie told me that she would need to speak with me when I got back.  Well, I'm not the kind of person who takes that comment easily.  Don't ever tell me that "we need to talk later."  I get all twisted up in knots.  By the time I got back to the office, I was sweating buckets & knew I was being let go.  I went to Millie & told her that I was ready but she wanted to wait until the end of the day.  I reminded her that this isn't something I could handle.  So.  We talked.

She was letting me know that after 3 years of being considered a valuable member of the team at the Coral Springs South office, my position was being eliminated at that office.  There was no longer a need for someone to service client problems & the office was going to be driven purely by sales.  (Ha!) I was being "asked" to take a transfer to our Coconut Creek office where my level of work would be highly appreciated.  (Do you just wanna hurl, or what!?)

My first reaction was to let Millie know that I would be out of the office by the end of the week & the company could go get screwed.  (Sorry but's it a lot nicer phrased this way as opposed to what I wanted to write.)  My common sense did come around quickly though.  I reminded Millie that she wasn't asking me to take a transfer (no matter how sweetly she was trying) but rather that I was being told if I didn't take the transfer I would be out of a job.  Isn't that nice?  Days before Christmas.

So I waited a day or so to let her know.  In the meantime, we had a pep rally (GAG ME!) at the end of the week.  My district manager came over to talk with me & let me know how excited she was for me taking this transfer.  If any of you really know me, then  you realize that I told her to cut the crap.  I told her that taking me out of my office was the wrong thing to do - both for the clients & the office, not to mention myself.  Being the prima donna that I am, I told her there was absolutely no way in hell that I could ever make it to the office earlier than 8:30.  I refuse to pay more money to Erin's school for an early morning program.  They want a lot more money which I was now going to lose since I'd be paying it out in gas money.  I also told her that since my daughter is my priority I wasn't going to spend less time with her because the company wants to make a mistake & place me in an office that I had turned down 6 times previously.

Lots of tears.  Lots of anger.  No more loyalty to the company that has employed me for 14 years.  I will always do my best for a client, but the company?  You know what they can do.

If I didn't really need the salary to cover things like David's medicine, property taxes & things for Erin, I would have quit on the spot.  We could make it on just David's salary - with a lot of adjustments, but he can't see that.

 Needless to say, I've been pretty depressed about this whole thing. 

Tomorrow, January 4th I start at my new office.  I have to build up my client base.  Again.  There is no privacy in this office because they never rennovated it to have true offices or even cubicles.  I'm trying to be positive.  After all, I still have a job & so many people don't.  This all sounds so petty but I'm tired of being moved around.

And, Viv, this is why I haven't blogged more.  Right now I'm having a hard time seeing the good in anything.