So how is your day going?

I hate winter. Not so much for the cold and snow (if we ever get it again here in central NJ -- my kids haven't been sledding in two years), but the darkness. Long ago I realized I am one of those people who get affected by the change in seasons and I can usually deal with it with bright lights and exercise.  But the last few days have been rough.

15 years ago my company was bought by a larger company. Yesterday the powers that be announced that after 125 years they are closing our former main officer and laying everybody there off starting in April (or 90 days). Today I am sitting through a meeting where I am basically learning how some offshore employees are taking their first steps in replacing those of us who remain in a few years. Finally, on a personal note, my wife has become very uncomfortable from the combined effects of radiation for her breast cancer and starting on tamoxifen.

The layoffs and offshoring are not really a surprise. That is where the industry has been headed lately as our world basically has changed completely thanks to technology the last 20 years. But the closing of the former main office really struck a blow for former and current long time employees. Though not at the original site, our company was a major player in the small city our company was headquartered for over a century. And while the office itself has only been half full, if that, for many years and we were absorbed by our new parent many years ago, it is essentially the end of an era.

Actually, my wife was feeling a little better today, at least well enough not to take her pain out on me -- this "for worse" stuff can be really hard some days. But her mood swings from the side effects the last few days are starting to get to me. I feel myself starting to slink back to the bottomless pit I felt I was in back when she started chemotherapy in July. I can't decide if she is in so much discomfort that she either is unaware how much her words are hurting me or is purposefully saying these things so I can feel her pain. Or if this is just the drugs talking again. At least I'll have something to talk to my therapist about next week.