Life Changes Ahead

Recently my son's daycare abruptly closed. It was hard on my husband and I, however we were already dragging our feet looking for new daycare/preschool, anyway. The series of events went like this:

*it rained on a Thursday evening,
*received a call on Friday morning about temporary shut down for a day - flood damage
*Received another call about closing for Monday and Tuesday
*Tuesday around lunch time I received the final call-We're closing indefinitely

OH, SHITTAKE!

I cannot tell you what is like to have your childcare snatched right out from under you but it leaves you with a feeling of inadequacy, urgency, and pure frenzy that makes you feel like you were the picture beside the word "chaos" in the dictionary. I took off Wednesday to search all around Central Arkansas for adequate childcare for my wild three year old, who needed some structure but a loving and caring environment that would allow his creativity to stay active.

I know I acted like I was looking for Mother Goose, herself. Let me tell you -- I didn't find her.

What I did find was a VERY structured preschool in a Christian environment with PATIETNT teachers. It is a predominantly black school which was a sort of turn off for me because I am all about diversity. I wavered with that for a while, but then realized that it doesn't matter what the make up of his school is as long as it is a good one.

I was scared for him but, I am glad in my decision. I didn't have very many options but glad this option was made available to me. I was nervous for him on his first day. I was worried his potty training may lapse. I was fretful he would be scared and mad at me and his dad because we took him to a strange place and left him.

I picked him up and he was fine. He was more than fine -- he was sitting in a chair watching the Disney Channel with the other children awaiting their parents to pick them up. At the old place he would be running around and helping some other child cause havoc on the teacher.

Sometimes things happen to make us move faster. I am in love with my son's new preschool and since his two weeks there he has already participated in his first Thanksgiving program and family day.

He is the one in the middle (orange shirt) hugging himself while singing the chorus to Jesus loves me.


I am not sure if I have mentioned that my job will run its course on December 31st and therefore, I will be amongst the growing number of the unemployed. At first, I was looking forward to it but, now I am nervous, all over again. I used to want to be a stay at home mom but I have since changed my mind. I have been given a lot of great advice about how to stay "in the game" even though I am not working. I am so thankful for the advice I have been given and some of it will be used in the near future. I am thankful that my husband's business is doing well but there is no doubt about it -- my salary will be greatly missed. I am pressing on and still have a few options but I have to be honest and say I am lost and unsure of my career's future. I don't know what is next. I love work. I want to work. I do have some ideas that I have tossed around to very few people, but nothing is etched in stone.

Then, as if I needed more life changes -- Oprah announced she was hanging up daytime talk. She doesn't know this but she helped me through those unsure months after college. I had no job, a toddler, and mounting school debt, yet, Oprah saw me through. I TiVo her everyday. She is my friend that I've never met. As I watched her announcement on Friday evening when I arrived home, I choked up with her. It felt like a break-up. You know, the whole "...it's not you, it's me..." routine. How could she do this to me?

So, in the words of an ex-girlfriend who doesn't want to let go:
PLEASE DON'T GO, OPRAH! I NEED YOU!