Sunday morning tea

Time does fly when it comes to blogging and I just realized it's been a while since I dropped any words of wisdom on this page. As usual, there has been a lot and not very much going on here. Work has been enjoyably busy; enough to keep me occupied and interested but not enough to make me run screaming from the building at 4:00 when the whistle blows. There are some big projects coming up and those should be interesting. I'm still trying to hire at least one other person for my group but can't get any candidates. You'd think people would go out of their way to work there since it's a good place.

Anthony has been looking for work lately, speaking of which. His contract at his company ended with no notice (that sucked) so he's in the job market again. He's put out a lot of resumes and had some good responses, including at least one job offer so far. So, it seems like he'll be back at work soon.

Jayson's depression has remained part of life as well. After he got back from his sabbatical in Texas he got better, then worse, then better then MUCH worse, then better...well, I think the pattern is clear. It's obvious that the issue is still out there and the illness isn't completely under control. I'm seeing it improve, which is good, but it pops up without a lot of provocation at times, and unexpectedly. I try to do the best I can to help him get better and not add to the problems, but I'm not always successful. At times it feels like my presence adds to the depression, mostly because the ways he and I interact are bad habits from the recent past. We've both been conditioned to respond certain ways - all of it during his depression - and those ways of responding don't work anymore. It can be extremely stressful wondering if what I might say or do next will cause him to go back into a depressed state.

That said, I'm taking my own sabbatical. I'm heading down to my mother's in Grants Pass, OR for about 5 days. Grants Pass is no big deal...driving past on the freeway the only things you can see are the Sprawl-Mart and some grocery stores. But, the downtown section is kinda nice and the setting is pretty. Best of all I'll get to spend some time alone with my mother, something I've not had to opportunity to do at any length in years. We always have a good time together and we never run out of things to talk about. We'll do some stuff outside the house I'm sure, but I'm guessing mostly we will stay at home, drink tea, eat, and chat. Five days should be a decent length for a visit. It should give me some time to unwind and de-stress somewhat and also just have time for me for a change, which is something that's usually sorely lacking.

Well, I think it's time to fix breakfast, or rather go to the market to get food with which to fix breakfast. Happy Sunday y'all.