It's family night tonight!

There are times when you realize that being a part of that entity they call a "family" is about as good as it gets. This last week has been one of those times. Let me elaborate just a bit.

Our youngest son was in New Orleans and got out just before the roads were closed before Katrina hit. A couple he knew who lived next door grabbed him and his dog at the last minute and they headed--they had no idea where, but "north" was how they described it. They ended up spending a couple of weeks in Alabama, then they went to Orlando, where the couple had family. After shifting from one place to another and another and another, he landed a job, got a nice apartment, and was pretty well back in the swing of things. Then he got a check from FEMA to help him with his relocation expenses. I was SO PROUD of him when he accepted the check, as the costs had been quite steep, but he wrote back to FEMA, thanking them for the check, but telling them that he had a job, a place to live, and in the future please send the money to somebody else who needed it worse than he did. (They had told him that he was eligible for up to 18 months of assistance for rent.)

Then our daughter, who lives here in Grand Forks, was quite stressed out from her job situation. She had been approached previously about taking a manager position at Wendy's, but she had always turned it down because one of the other employees had told her that she had to work more hours than she felt she could honestly promise them and still keep her two other part-time jobs. They again asked her about taking a manager position, but this time at the store she had previously worked at. She didn't want to go back there, but she also didn't want to sacrifice her other two jobs. After a lot of bickering and their almost insisting that she accept the offer and/or at least move to the other store, she took the bull by the horns and went directly to the owner. He was surprised at some of the reasons she gave him for why she didn't want to do what he wanted from her. Seems that, as is so often the case, the employees will do all sorts of griping, but never go directly to the source. So, she is the new co-manager at the old store. We stopped there for supper last night, and she is so much more relaxed and happy. Yup, I'm proud of her, too.

Then, to top it all off, yesterday I got a letter from my ex-sister-in-law. I never had any problem with her, but she disappeared from all of our lives after their divorce, in 1971. She accidentally stumbled across my website and got in touch with me. I could hardly wait to get on the phone with her. We had a very long, wonderful phone conversation. She is as sweet as ever. Tonight I got the email for her son (my nephew) and I just sent a note off to him. Still have to get in touch with her daughter (my niece) but she lives near her mom in Alaska. For a little extra icing on the cake, she ordered several of my books from Amazon.com!

Yes, we have another son. He's our firstborn. He is a good kid, even if he did forget my birthday last week. I am sure he will make up for it one day soon. Or maybe he did the other night about a month ago when he called me in the middle of the night because he had just met a gal who had actually been to Blackduck, MN, a little tiny town that was near where I grew up. He wanted some more information about how we turned at the biggest tree after we passed Bina on Hwy. 2 to get to Blackduck. I asked him why he wanted to know that. He and the girl he had just met were at a nightclub in Las Vegas, where he lives, were going to do a comedy routine. It was open-mike night. Yup, he's OK, too!

Anyway, it's been a good week, family wise. Hope yours was, too. Your comments are always welcome.

Until next time.
Janet