Loyalty

There’s no crying in baseball; thanks, Tom Hanks, for that movie moment.

None here, either, for a layoff that stunned everyone including us, because after three years of hard work and more challenging assignments, my husband and 56 others were shown the exit door.

A category of fellow firees are all a bit shell-shocked, but people my husband has worked with over the years have come out of the woodwork, calling even from overseas, to help him find new work.

When he finally brought me home to meet his parents, his mother spent five days telling my how methodical he was, how difficult to live with. We had already agreed to be married (no engagement) but I needed to meet his folks and after one day, his Dad, on a heavy truck-related errand, asked him “when are you going to ask her? It’s OK with me.” His father and I don’t agree on politics but we have engaging dinner table conversations when we visit.

As to his mother, we cook up a storm together whether additional dishes for Thanksgiving or whatever we want to do. Whenever I tell her that her son is driving me crazy doing some project, she can now say “I told you.” He is methodical, but also genius, in that he can see something physical or in code and innately know how to fix it. As a kid, he put a microswitch in the grain bin to help his father, then a dairyman.

Some people stick with you through thick and thin. Thank you! Heads up to folks in Salt Lake, Houston, Austin, Scotland and elsewhere for helping us to find our next home. We’ll let you know the next episode. I know that loyalty is not something companies value, but lack of such on the corporate side won’t stop us in future journeys. Cheers, Dee