Heartbreak and Sorrow

I would never claim the grief I'm experiencing  is anything compared to those who lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. However, I'm surprised by how greatly this horrific event has affected me. I try to avoid the media reports, yet I can't help but be drawn to the TV, the paper, the Internet - anything I can get my hands on to learn more. I want to know why this happened. I want to know how the families are coping. I want to know more, but I don't. I stare at the photos of the little children and I weep. I weep for them, for their mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers...I look at Keira and something grips my heart as I try to stop thinking about, "What if..." I see pictures of the teachers and admire and grieve their untimely deaths. It's all I can do to get up in the morning, go to work and pretend like anything I do actually matters. All I feel like doing is staying at home with Mark and Keira - I want to keep them in my sights. I want to hold Keira close to me all the time. There is just something about the innocent lives of children lost that takes hold of us and we will never forget.

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal; Love leaves a memory no one can steal."

Back at the BBY

I started my first consulting gig a few weeks ago and am back at Best Buy working on a service called CinemaNow. It's been going really, really well and I'm very happy I made the job change. I have so much more flexibility and the work itself is much more interesting too. 

Beyond that we're all keeping busy and had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The Favres came from Ohio and Texas to Rochester and we enjoyed spending time with everyone. Keira especially loved having her cousins around to play with. As always we had our second Thanksgiving with the Huynh family at our home and that was fun too. I ate way too much...ate myself sick, actually, but it was great!

Keira had a ballet recital today. Here's a picture of our little ballerina.

The following is a link to a short video of her performance. We think she danced brilliantly...for a five-year old! Keira's ballet recital

Otherwise, our Christmas tree is up, Mark started putting lights up outside the house, and now we just need some snow!

A New Chapter

I officially resigned from Select Comfort a couple of weeks ago and have been taking it easy for a few days. Tomorrow I start a new chapter in my career. I am now a consultant with SafeNet Consulting and  my first client is Best Buy...Funny how I've come full circle and will be back there again.

I'm excited for this opportunity, albeit a little nervous. My employment is dependent on clients and projects that come my way. Not having something "permanent" is a little unnerving, but this could be really great! It provides me with more flexibility and variety in my work. Working with SafeNet makes the transition easier than becoming an independent consultant. I have a team behind me looking for jobs that are perfect for me and I don't have to worry about benefit coverage either.

The only downside so far is that I wasn't able to take more time off between jobs. My time off has flown by so quickly. I'm already looking forward to having next Thu-Fri off for Thanksgiving! While I don't think I could ever stay home full-time, I do think part-time would be nice...Does anyone know of a part-time gig that would pay a full-time salary?! Mark took last Friday off and we were able to join Keira for lunch at school and then we went and saw Skyfall. It was a wonderful day off...