Today started out normal enough. I got up and fixed the little one some cereal, checked Facebook and emails, checked my business page...the usual. Then I started thinking about this summer and going to the beach. We didn't get to go last year, so we decided that we really wanted to try to go this year. We have some money saved up and I talked to my sister in law about going with us, so that we would have help keeping an eye on our rambunctious two year old. I had a few minutes before I needed to start fixing food so it would be ready when my hubby got up, so I pulled up the website of our favorite place to stay at the beach. Wouldn't you know it? I found the exact room we wanted for the exact dates we wanted (Mustang Week) for about three hundred dollars less than what it was the last time we checked. I saved the page and had a little extra pep in my step now that I could almost taste the salt air.
Fast forward an hour and we have eaten a pretty awesome meal of kielbasa with banana peppers, blueberry pancakes and eggs. I had told him about the reservation I found and he agreed that I could go ahead and book it. The cancellation policy got me some brownie points since we could cancel at least a week before we got there and only lose thirty four dollars of our deposit. There have been talks of a lay off at his company for months, but in the oilfield there is ALWAYS talks of a lay off. This new round of lay off talk had us in a discussion about whether or not we should take our camper home. My vote was that we should take it home because we would save a lot of money. He had changed his vote to leaving it so that we weren't pulling it as much and our daughter and I could still come to work with him. Well...my vote won, but not because he saw the light or anything like that. I happened to sit down at the table and see that he had gotten an email. I almost just trashed it because it didn't look like anything interesting, but opened it anyway and got a lovely surprise. It was an email from his company stating that sometime between March 1 and March 14 he would be laid off permanently.
Within just a couple of hours my day went from one extreme to the other. Now we are trying to think of what job he could possibly do. The only thing he knows and the only thing he is trained for is the mines and rigs. In case nobody noticed, the oilfield is crashing hard and coal is basically non-existent in southern West Virginia now. I know we will figure something out because we always do, but it's just so frustrating. The little town we live in is almost dead. It's so sad to see our whole county and many around us slowly dying. It affects everyone in every job. The people that lose their jobs are having to move out of state to find new jobs just to feed their families. Those people moving means there isn't anyone to spend money at the gas stations, grocery stores, hair dressers, etc. These families have been in these little towns for generations. Some of them, like my family, have been there since these towns were founded. It's more than just a home or just a place to live and they are being forced to leave. I really don't know what everyone is supposed to do and my heart breaks for them, for us and for my daughter.
By this time I should have already had the camper packed up and cleaned so we can head home tomorrow, but I've spent all evening job searching on the internet and talking to some people that may be of help. At this rate I'm going to be up all night trying to get everything situated to leave in the morning. It would be easier if we could take the camper with us tomorrow, but the snow still hasn't melted off from the blizzard. We will have to come back for it in a few days when the rest of it should be melted. If it's not moved by Monday we'll have to pay rent for the lot it's on again.
To top the day off, I just found out that a beloved family member passed away today too. Seems like everything gets you at once. I don't do this very often, but please keep my family in your thoughts. *Baby Dust*
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