It's surprisingly daunting to try to sum up the last four months. When I last blogged summer was about to begin, Tim had just lost his job, everything seemed really uncertain. I wish I could say that in four months I had gained some certainty. The days and hours of summer were long and tedious but the months went fast. The leaves are beginning to change color, the nights are deliciously cool and the kids have started a new school year. This is my second year teaching arts and crafts at my sis-in-law's preschool so in a way I've started a new school year as well. Tim started school right after he found out that Disney was closing their SLC office and he and 300 other people lost their jobs. I guess I should start there.
Tim has been a video game developer for about 10 years. If I'm straight up honest his choice of career has always been something that we disagreed on. Even when we dating I was firmly against his chosen profession. I think video games, to those who play them, are a time waster at best and addictive and destructive at their worst. It turns out that spectrum is much less forgiving to those who actually produce video games. The industry as a whole is immature and poorly managed. Every game he worked on was produced on the back of ours and 100's of other families relationships, sanity, and health. So, surprisingly when I heard the news that he was being laid off I felt like it was an answer to prayer.
For almost a year prior to the lay off my spidey senses were telling me that things were not going well at the office. I think because of my degree in Economics and business experience the Lord chose to warn me that Tim's days at Disney were numbered. So last August, after another grueling production cycle where Tim gets bloated and develops bags under his eyes, has the mental the concentration of a gnat, and his children begin to forget what his voice sounds like I persuaded him to look into Web Development. He got really excited about it and started getting up an hour and half before the rest of us to study it. Then after work he would study for another 2 or 3 hours and start it all over the next day. When the lay off was announced in May we decided now was time to really make the switch and Tim enrolled in an online program to become a Web Developer.
This summer was tough. School is expensive and money is tight. The kids and I were stuck at home a lot and I was struggling to keep the kids quiet so Tim could study and video conference with his professor. The boredom was mind numbing. But no matter how many times in the last 6 years I've thought I was at the end of my rope I've found that more rope exists which I guess is a good thing? I found sanity in beautiful sunsets, the hummingbirds that got really used to me while I read on the deck, walking with my kids and making plans for the future when they will get to spend time with Dad, watching the moon, listening to the kids laugh, giving my kids art lessons, and listening to them practice piano and trumpet.
In may we sat the kids down and told them Tim's plan and explained that we had to cancel our trip to Disneyland and HarryPotter land and that Dad would be studying all the time. Poor Claire Bear was the most upset. She cried and said she would miss daddy. The boys took it better which was scary for us both. They are so accustomed to Tim's work cycles that this just seemed like more of the same. I think it was a big wake up call for us both. This has to work because the kids simply accepting that Tim is never around is not a good thing!
A few days after our talk Luke wrote Tim a note that says:
"Dear Dad,
I love how much work you have been doing.
I know it is tough but it is good for us.
You are a good worker.
We all need you. You help our family so much.
Love, Luke Wright
You are my sunshine."
Man, I have great kids.
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