Ready for the weekend!

I'm so ready for this week to be over! Not that I have any special plans... I am just done working, done having to be up at a certain time, having to do what I do M-F, done getting the kids up and getting them off to school. I like quiet time. What I do M-F does not usually consist of much quiet time. My kids are old enough (8 & 12) to be able to function on their own if I need to not be needed 24-7. They can cook stuff in the microwave... get cereal...watch TV... swim in the pool... if I really need to not be up to par, I can. On the weekends.

S has started college. In trying to keep our anonymity, I have tried to not give too many specifics, but I think what I'm about to tell is happening more in our Great Country than it ever has. S's job was outsourced to Mexico so now he is a displaced worker. Has lived worked in a factory for the last 20 years. We heard the rumors... we prepared... weren't horribly surprised when he was told that he was laid off due to the fact that his job was being given to a Mexican family who would work for lower wages.

I'm really ok with this. S is a very intelligent man who has way more to offer than to park his brain at the door of a factory on his way to work. He does cross word puzzles in ink for goodness sakes!! So I was excited to hear that being a displaced worker offered a couple of cool things. Unemployment... not a bad thing to get paid to sleep late. He needed a vacation. Two year degree for free! The government is sending him to school for an associates degree in what ever he wants to be when he grows up, as long as it's considered to be a needed vocation in our community.

This all took place back in January this year. We've been playing this game for 8 months now. Up to this point he has been home, a bit under foot at times, but for the most part... we enjoyed it. He kinda helped out with my business a bit... and got to learn all about the wonderful leisure life that he thought I led during the day M-F. I'm sure he thought I laid around all day an ate bon-bons. He is no long disillusioned.

So finally college starts. We got everything together... got him registered... books ordered... got school supplies when I got our children theirs. He has been in 3 weeks now.  Helping as much as I can. He is going to succeed in this, if not for himself, for the family. The vocation that he has chosen is one that he can actually start his own business after apprenticing for a couple of years. He could teach the kids... it could be a family business. I'm a planner... and this is one of the scenarios I've come up with.

No matter what does eventually does come to pass... I know it will be to take care of our family because that's what he does... he takes care of us.