Well, time for a little update. Things are not going well in H's new endeavor. He's doing extremely well at his part of the job, has discovered a real talent for it, but is unfortunatley figuring out that the other executives in this start-up do not really know what they are doing. Partly because of that, he's had to travel every week and has only been home on weekends.
He's putting out feelers right now for other positions, and if things don't turn around dramatically in the next few weeks, I think he will leave and either take a new position or return to his old work.
Financially, we will be okay either way, but it is a big disappointment to him, as this job would have been absolutely PERFECT for him IF the other guys were on top of things. Still, he has acquired a brilliant education in business in a few short months, I'm sure that knowledge will come in handy in the future.
He did contact the other company he had been considering in the fall. Although they have filled that position, they seemed quite excited to talk to my H - I suspect they will offer him some other position, so it is very nice for him to feel wanted.
Meanwhile, things are still going well with me working one day a week, although I struggle to find enough time and energy throughout the week to work on the work-related things I want to be doing (such a writing new patient education materials, etc.).
S15 is now homeschooling, but luckily for me, he is much more self-motivated than D16, and requires much less nagging from me. He is in an independent study program that allows them to take one course at a time, and move through it as quickly as they like, so he is currently quite motivated by the prospect of being able to graduate a year early. He has set himself an ambitious schedule to make that happen, and so far he is sticking to it. He found an electric organ for $80 at the Salvation Army thrift shop yesterday, so that is the latest addition to his growing collection of musical instruments.
Last weekend we celebrated my mom's 75th birthday. My sister and I gave her a present - a trip to Paris in the fall with both of us! My sister has a timeshare she can use, and I have frequent flyer miles I can use, so it will actually cost us very little. My mom was a history major in college, and loves museums and historical buildings and the like, so it will be a fabulous trip for her.
Neither she nor my sister have ever been to Paris, and I haven't been there since 1984, so it will be a great trip. My mom's family was French-Canadian heritage, my grandmother was bilingual in French and English, so this trip will be extra special for my mom.
S20 came down for the party. His internet girlfriend broke up with him, and he's sad about that, learning the hard lessons we all learned at that age about love and loss. I'm a little relieved, though, since this will free him up to meet a girl who actually lives in the same geographical region! (The internet friend lived in Texas and was going to school in Texas, so this wasn't really headed anywhere.) I figure S20's best chance at finding the nerdy girl for him is right there at Berkeley, so he'd better make good use of his time there!
D16 is doing okay. She's a little upset that S15 might graduate high school before her! (Her program does not allow for accelerating classes the way S15's does.) She's doing okay in school, and looking towards college, which is good. I do still worry about her risk for relapse (for any newcomers, she had anorexia/bulimia) but she seems stable. She has some good friends right now, and is actually gone for the week with a girlfriend visiting the girlfriend's grandmother.
Both S15 and D16 are in a hurry to grow up and move out. Since I have seen the other side of this (S20 was very SLOW to become independent) it does not seem like such a bad thing.
