Why I Don't Have Vacation

I can't begin to tell you how much I love my brother and sister-in-law. Once again, they are taking our daughter on vacation with them.

My husband and I had planned to take a really nice vacation this year, but my company laid me off after 24 years. It's okay - I know it's not personal - they consolidated from 16 to 4 business centers in the United States. I couldn't have transferred if I had been offered a move.

God is good, of course, and I didn't get one, but two, job offers even before I left. I took the one I really, really wanted and I love it! The company I work for now does contract work for my previous employer, so I still interact with old friends and get to keep in touch with them more than if I had ventured in another direction.

While there is some resentment - it hurts to be let go after such a long time - I am grateful that I can keep in touch with my previous coworkers. As you can imagine, after 24 years, it's not just work anymore, it's family. Dysfunctional, but family.

And now, I am building a new group of friends with whom I intend to ride out the rest of my working life. It's such a big difference to move from a very large corporation to a small, one-owner company. I like it. I highly recommend it.

So, there's a snippet of my work life. What does that have to do with my brother...oh yeah, changing jobs altered my vacation time. I have gone from 5 (yes FIVE) weeks of vacation to having to work a year before getting any.

My brother, his wife, and daughter are taking our daughter with them to New Braunfels, TX to hang out on the river, tubing the rapids, and lounging in the pool. They even let her bring a friend her own age along.

We had big plans to go to Maine and Nova Scotia - big change from Houston - in July. I got laid off in April. Hopefully, next year will be the year.