THE WINDING ROAD

Sorry for the lapse . . . the world is just spinning so fast.

 

At the end of my last post, I told you exactly how stressful our lives had become by the time Mike came back around and started running his store again.

 

So, the torment at work continued for me, my coworkers, and Lana, my supervisor. Not only was the stress of dealing with upset customers weighing on us, but employees were leaving left and right, fed up by the loss of business in a tight economy or the pressure put upon them by angry customers. The phones rang all day long for calls about late or skipped deliveries; broken, scratched and shredded merchandise; or damages to customers' homes. 

 

Mike was overwhelmed by the money that his store and his region had lost while he was gone, and he began a tyrannical campaign to save money and save his reputation with the head honchos. He cut down on hours and hired outside delivery services, robbing all employees of their regular pay. He demanded repairs to even the most damaged furniture, pushing it into customers' homes at almost any discount, just to get it out of the warehouse. He even forced employees to work through lunches to meet delivery times and repair schedules, then asked Lana to shave the lunch hours from their paychecks when preparing payroll.

 

No one in the store knew where he had been or what was going on, but Jennifer seemed to grow close to him. He quickly gave her a promotion to "3rd Assistant Manager," which meant little except that she was making more money and skipping out on the "peon" duties. She spent a great deal of time in his office with the door locked and closed, and they both insisted they were discussing store operations, but the rumor mill started turning and soon everyone in the store was believing these two married adults were having an elicit affair.

 

The military enlistment process continued for me. There was a great deal of paperwork to be done and I was always waiting . . . waiting . . . waiting for the next step. It became clear that, with the seriousness of my HPV, I might not be allowed to join the Air Force. Josh and I were discouraged by this, but mostly we were afraid that it would progress to cervical cancer, which would be a devastating blow to our already strenuous exisence.

 

Joshua's excitement about the Honor Guard and the Air Force was dampening during his stint as the Officer in Charge of Scheduling. He was beginning new programs, writing operations manuals, and creating databases that greatly improved the efficiency of the entire unit, but he was also dealing with a difficult supervisor who didn't appreciate his zealousness and push for productivity.

 

I was growing tired of the unfamiliar structure of operations in the Honor Guard as opposed the the old ways back at Luke AFB. Josh was receiving late night phone calls from his subordinates about frivolous matters, and constantly teaching them how to deal with their personal matters, including finances, car troubles, and deaths in the family. It was almost too much for me to handle, mostly due, I think, to the fact that I had never seen a supervisor who exerted so much effort and went so far out of his or her way to teach a young person the value of good personal and professional ethics and forming good habits. I had never really had an adequate supervisor.

 

Mike was impossible to deal with. He was moody and touchy and most people were afraid to knock on his door, much less piss him off and get called into the office. However, people were shocked that he was spending so much time in the store and working on weekends for the first time in years. What they didn't know, but I understood all along, was that he was doing all of this to avoid going back to his cell at night. You see, Mike was a participant in the correctional facility's "work release" program, and he could only leave the prison to come to work. It was a joke to me.

 

Then, one day, Josh and I were out of town, taking some much needed time away from our troubles, and Lana called to tell me that Jordan, the Operations Manager and second in command of the store, had been fired and the Delivery Manager, Anthony, was filing an EEO complaint against the store. I was shocked to hear this news.

 

But the battle was only beginning.

I made a decision, at some point in the beginning of the last year, to make a change. Whether I made that decision before or after the occurrence of so many disturbing events in my workplace is probably not entirely significant to the fact that I joined the Air Force.

 

It wasn’t a decision I made on a whim and Joshua was certainly involved. He has, after all, been in the Air Force for nearly six years, which (I think) makes him a reliable resource. The choice was made after many late nights and months of agony over the direction my life had taken – I was a cashier in a furniture store, working a schedule which prevented me from continuing my education and robbing me of valuable time with my husband.

 

The process began one evening after work with a phone call to a local recruiter. After a friendly exchange of information, an appointment was set. I would need to complete a fair amount of paperwork, take the ASVAB examination and make a two-day trip to a processing center for a health physical before reserving a job. For now, though, it was just an appointment . . . a date looming in the future . . . an idea.

 

Prior to my decision and during the events that followed, Joshua was fervently working to finish his Master’s Degree. He had been placed in a new position within the Honor Guard – supervisor of scheduling. While adjusting to the job (meant for a much higher ranking person than himself), he began to see the value of his opinion within the organization and how little his ideas were given consideration. Nevertheless, he excelled.

 

I was suffering with severe cervical dysplasia and HPV. After hoping for nearly a year that it would go away, a new examination proved it was getting worse. Joshua and I braced ourselves for bad news.

 

Meanwhile, my workplace had begun to impact a great deal of pressure upon me. Lana, my close friend and mentor was my (very unhappy) supervisor in the customer service department; she could sense that things were getting worse, too. Secretly, we discussed our plans to leave – me to the military and she to a new home out-of-state with her family – and somehow managed to survive the stress of a hostile environment.

 

Mike, the store’s general manager and manager for the region, was MIA; he had taken a leave of absence with little explanation and no one knew where he was or what he might be doing. Rumors buzzed that perhaps Jen, the merchandise manager, knew of Mike’s whereabouts. Business continued; although without a store manger to lead operations, sales were dropping, employees were cheating and stealing, and employee morale hit an all-time low.

 

The customer service department felt the burn: we were hounded by angry customers whose deliveries were horribly botched; returns were rewarded left and right, sales reps losing their commission every time; the warehouse was filling with damaged furniture and customers were consistently disappointed. We believed it would never end.

 

One day I received a call from a stranger, identifying himself as a correctional officer from the local big house. Not caring to recognize the sensitivity of the issue, I’m sure, the officer gave me new information as to the whereabouts of Mike, my boss; he had been in prison for nearly two months.

 

I immediately passed the call to Lana, who later swore me to secrecy over the issue. She shared what information she could: Mike had been arrested on his fourth DUI and an additional charge – possession and distribution of narcotics. He was being released to work in our store during the day, expected to return to the correction facility afterward.

 

And so, dressed in his best suit, Mike returned to his duties as regional and store manager.

Well, we’re still alive.

 

The past year (and then some) has been a whirlwind of rocky foundations and new beginnings, for both me and my husband Joshua. We are still very happy – closer than ever, in fact. I’ve never forgotten about my Spaces family, but have neglected to wrench myself away from the real world to vent my life frustrations over cyberspace.

 

And now I think it’s time for me to tell the story of my life since my last post. It’s been a long, emotionally and physically difficult road to get here, along which Joshua has supported all of my ups and downs, despite his own personal and professional battles.

 

I am not prepared to begin just yet. There is so much to say that it will take weeks of posts to get it all out – and yet, I think it will help me immensely just to put the words out there.

 

I’m hoping that eventually this blog will take a different direction. Between chapters of my story, I’d like to discuss current events that effect me and my husband, the progress of my continuing education, present-day news from our personal lives and the career paths upon which we are about to embark. I also have loads of new pictures and comical reminiscence to share.

 

What I would like to know is how many readers are still out there, still willing to hear my story and respond with opinions.

Wow . . . It's been a while since I've written!  I just want to leave a quick update:

 

Christmas was GREAT!  Josh and I both got everything we wanted and a few things we didn't know we really wanted. We (again) had some of Josh's Amn and his Lt over for dinner, including two of his best friends.  I made pork tenderloin and it was AWESOME!  We played games and had fun and even though we were far away from our family, we really enjoyed the whole day.

 

New Year's Eve was pretty crazy.  Once again, Josh's friends came over and we had a pretty good night playing games and celebrating (I didn't have to cook this time).  I was pretty sick on New Year's Day, though, and Josh had to take me to the hospital for an IV.  I was feeling better by dinnertime, though!

 

We've started considering getting a second dog and have visited several animal shelters in the area.  Unfortunately, we had planned to do the majority of our searching today and Josh got called away to do an overnight detail in Pennsylvania.  So, we have postponed our hunt for another companion and will hopefully pick it up again next week.

 

Josh has started taking classes again and is hoping to get his degree finished up before the end of this year.  I'm looking to sign up for online classes at the moment - just one of my many New Year's Resolutions.  Another resolution I've made is to lose 40 pounds - I've been checking into Weight Watchers, which may seem kind of weird, but I've heard a lot of good things about them and I'm ready for a change.

 

So-- there's some news!  We stay pretty busy on this side ofthe country; life itself seems to move faster. I hope everyone had a safe and happy Holiday Season.  We'll be talking again soon!

Christmas has arrived so quickly.  It seems like I feel the same hopeless bewilderment at this time every year.  It's the "Did I take care of everyone?" feeling that is getting to me right now.  I know that I have a few more things to put in a box and send out to my mother-in-law, but I'm hoping against all hope that I haven't forgotten anything so terribly important.

 

In addition to all of the craziness, I have to figure out what I am giong to do about Christmas dinner.  For Thanksgiving, Josh invited some of his troops over and I cooked a turkey dinner.  It was really fun, but I was looking forward to not having to do that for another year.  Now it seems as though I won't be so lucky - we will have five or six additional guests for dinner on Christmas day.  Joyful joyful.

 

Really, though, I'm looking forward to the occasion.  We did have a lot of fun when they were all here in November, plus Josh's closest friends will be here, so it won't be a group of complete strangers.  I'll probably just buy a Honey Baked Ham and have everyone bring a little something to contribute.  It will be fun.

 

Meanwhile, the occupational Christmas parties have ended.  I actually had to miss mine for Josh's event last night, but I actually didn't mind so much.  I could have had a roast beef special at the Holiday Inn with all the gang from the furniture store, but I much preferred the dinner boat "Spirit of Washington" out on the Potomac River.

 

 

It was SO MUCH FUN.  We got very dressed up:  me in my new Blondie Nites evening gown and Josh in his fantastic suit.  Yummy.  Oh yeah, and the food was great too.  We had a few drinks, watched some jesters sing and dance, and then the DJ turned the room into one large dance floor  . . . it was just a great time.  I didn't take any pictures, but then I really didn't have a chance.  Some occasions just make it difficult to yank out the camera and shout "SAY CHEESE!"

 

So anyway, Josh got to sleep in a little before work today, and that was nice for him since we were up so late.  Today, I have a list of things to do around the house and errands to run but I can't get myself in gear.  I've been looking forward to a day off for so long and all I want to do is lounge.  It never works that way though . . . gotta use my time wisely.

 

Okay, I'm off to tackle my to-do list.  Hooray.

 

Well, it has been a very busy week and a half.  I have tried several times to get back to blogging, but something always prevents it.  Today, I plan to catch you up on recent happenings.

 

First of all, my 21st birthday was great.  Josh had to work the night before, but he got home late and we went out for a first drink at midnight.  My very first drink was a Cosmopolitan (Josh said I should make it something that won't be hard to remember).  We slept late and got up to see a Christmas concert performed by the Air Force Band.  Then, we rode the Metro up to Silver Spring and found a great sportsbar with a large collection of pool tables and big screen TVs.  Josh made me get drunk and call my parents, who were very amused!  All in all, it was a fun night for both Josh and me.

 

Then, Josh's birthday was on Wednesday.  We didn't have a chance for a large celebration, but I did a few special things to let him know how special he is to me and we went out to dinner.  I know he was disappointed that I hadn't planned an extravaganza, but we were both looking ahead to our weekend trip to Atlantic City.

 

By the time Friday rolled around, we were SOOO ready to hit the road.  The drive to Atlantic City was rather short and not at all boring.  We had managed to get a room with a balcony overlooking the ocean at Days Inn, which was so nice.  We were a brisk walk away from the shopping and restaurants and casinos.  The weather was GREAT!  Of course, it was a little breezy, but the sun provided just enough warmth that walking was pleasant.

 

We had planned for the trip well -- we knew that to hope we might win would be hard on our patience, so we just went to have fun (with plenty of money to do so).  We only played slot machines and a little video poker, but there were so many machines to choose from, it was hard to get bored.  We had our favorite machines, they had lots of bonus games and fun characters.  Our favorite place to play quickly became Caesar's, if only because they had my favorite game, Lucky Lemmings!

 

At about lunchtime on Sunday, we were both tired of throwing away money and decided to spend the money we had left on a nice lunch and a movie, maybe do a little shopping.  So we took a walk down to the IMAX theater at the Tropicana and bought tickets to a late showing of "Happy Feet" and sat down for lunch and a beer at a BBQ joint.

 

To waste some time before the show, we hung out in the hotel room, then took a walk on the beach while the sun was setting (now I see why that's such a popular pastime), and did a little roaming through the shops along the boardwalk.  With way too much time left before our movie started, we ended up much further down the boardwalk than we had been all weekend.

 

About a mile and a half from our hotel, we found an art dealer's shop in disarray from a construction project on the building.  He welcomed us in, even though most of the other shops were closed for the night, and we discovered a mish-mash of useless stuff, from doilies to used jewelry.  We had to squeeze in between old bronze statues and some antique crap, but the back room had a large collection of framed artwork.  Most of it was strange old stuff that only my grandmother would appreciate, but in the mix I found a very nice oil painting of a cobblestone street in front of a Cafe.

 

It was four feet wide and three feet tall, marked at $995, but I knew there was no possible way it could be worth that.  The dealer told me that because of the construction and the mess in the store, he needed to get things out quickly, so the paintings were 50% off and then 50% off again.  He figured my favorite painting at about $250.  To make a long story short, Josh and I tried to walk out of the store twice and I finally got the painting for $150!!!

 

Josh and I joke that I stole it from the guy, and on the mile and a half walk back to the hotel room, we laughed about what a great story this will be when this painting is hanging in the kitchen for years to come.  It was an interesting walk, with everyone we passed staring to see what we were bringing home.  It was already dark outside and although it wasn't cold, the wind was blowing pretty substantially, making the transport of the huge painting VERY difficult.  It may have been the most fun I had all weekend.

 

The movie was GREAT.  You should all go see it.  Robin Williams is a favorite of both Josh and me, and he did a wonderful job as the voice of both the Adelie Amigo and the Guru Lovelace.  I was giggling through the whole movie.

 

So . . . super good time for both of us.  This week, we're both back to work.  We've managed to get our Christmas shopping done and I just have to get family gifts out today.  I'll try to get some pictures of our tree and the trip on the page soon -- especially the new ginormous painting.  Everyone have a great day and I'll be back again soon!

Yes, Sunday was my 21st birthday and yes I had a wonderful time.  I was hoping to get to my blog yesterday to write all about it, but so much of my day was spent running errands and decorating for Christmas.

 

Unfortunately, I have sprained my wrist somehow and to type would be a very slow and painful process.  Tomorrow is Josh's birthday and I do have a slight something planned, so hopefully I will be available to tell you about that AND my birthday experience on Thursday. Plus, I have pictures of our tree and WILL have more of the gingerbread house if it ever gets made.

 

Thanks to everyone who has signed my guestbook, I feel so special that you would take the time to visit my page and find me worthy of knowing you were here.  Please cross your fingers in hopes that my wrist will not be severely damaged -- it's not incredibly bad at the moment, I just cannot use a couple fingers and my thumb of my left hand.

 

The good news is that I'm right handed, so I can still take notes in my training sessions all week.  The bad news is that it has taken me way too long to type this post with my left hand without any major mistakes and I am giving up . . .