That's How It Is

Now that Jay is employed again, you would think that I could calm down and concentrate on other things. At least, I should be able to be content. But the last time he had the job he thought he wanted, back in December, he lost it after one week. He was so devastated, he came home and went to bed. I had a heck of a time getting him out of bed to go to a show we had to do that night. (We were in "Sander's Family Christmas" at the time.)

I was reminded yesterday that Jay is on this job for the first three weeks on probation. This next week is the critical week. The thing you must do at an RV factory is work quickly and efficiently.  He is telling me that they have already told him a couple of times that he has to build his drawers faster. He is now working as fast as he can, trying to keep ahead of the others there. He says he is working faster than he used to work when he was working for himself and thought he was working fast. In other words, according to him, he is working as fast as he can. If he gets fired this time, I don't know what it will do to him. He really wants to keep this job.

I believe in the power of prayer, but I also believe in the power of positive thinking. I told him that if he exudes confidence, it will be easier for me to be confident. It will also be easier for his employer to have confidence in him if he seems confident. Right now, he just seems scared. I don't blame him for being scared. He has been mostly out of work for two years. But you have to start somewhere.

If you think of him this week, and if you pray, go ahead and pray for him. If you don't pray, thanks for thinking of him, try to keep it positive. Jay worked for all the 30 years before he sold his shop. He worked hard and long hours. We raised our kids on his income alone, and, while sometimes we didn't have excess, we always had enough to pay bills and meet the needs of our family. He built beautiful cabinets for people. When the building business dried up and he wasn't building so many cabinets, he had a production job that kept him busy until the manufacturer replaced some of his product line with a plastic product. He isn't ready to retire yet.

I am trying to keep a positive attitude too. It is difficult, you know, because I am a pessimist by nature. See, even my blood type is B negative! I always think of the worse case scenario and hope that it doesn't happen. It's so easy to "be negative".  I would like to be more positive. My hero, Randy Pausch, in his book, "The Last Lecture" challenged me (us) to be a "Tigger" and not an "Eeyore". I really need to get a big picture of Tigger and put it up here in my office at home. And I need one to put up in the office at work, too. It will remind me that I have to choose to be upbeat and positive like Tigger, rather than gloomy like Eeyore. I think that's how it is, you have to make a conscience effort to choose to be positive. That's how it is, anyway, if you are me!