The first day after

Today was Howard’s first day of self employment. He spent it organizing his office and creating a good mental space for him to create inside. He brought home four suitcases full of stuff from his Novell office and all that stuff had to be sorted through. I helped with that some, but mostly my day was pretty normal. And yet it was different. It’s kind of like watching a familiar scene in a movie only they changed the background music.

Tomorrow I need to sort through information about continuing benefits through the month of October. This needs to be done so that we have more time to pick a new health plan and go through an application process. Lots and lots of paperwork for me to do. Then on Friday I meet with our accountant to make sure I understand how to plan for self-employment taxes and associated issues.

Gah. I need to go find some happy thoughts before bedtime so that I can get to sleep tonight.

5 thoughts on “The first day after”

  1. Here – borrow mine. Been listening to some J-Pop-influenced music. Very nice stuff that Yuki Kajiura and Yoko Kanno do. Their soundtrack work’s pretty good, too.

  2. Private insurance is a pain in the arse. I hope that none of y’all have any conditions that require care right now. couldn’t get private insurance at all because he was in a motorcycle accident in 1999.

  3. Having dealt with that insurance mess before, my suggestion is go with CORBA continuation for a few months. Use that time to do more indepth research into your insurance options. You should be getting a notification from Novell on that in the next few weeks. Some employers send it out right away, whereas Home Depot didn’t send mine until right before the choice period ended (the postmark was something like two days before the deadline to reply).

  4. Hi Gal – I’ve been meaning to write to you for the past few days – but my intentions got side-tracked by a faulty anti-procrastinator.

    How exciting for the whole family. And how scary for you when they’re not looking.

    Your ‘journey’ is very much like the one taken by the families who headed west-ward some 100+ years ago. The territory isn’t completely uncharted but you and your co-travelers haven’t actually seen it yet, much less lived there and prospered.

    “Have I packed everything we’ll need for the next year?” “What if one of us gets sick?” “Are we there yet?” “Somebody ought to pave these **** roads.” “What if the snows come early?” “What if the rain comes late?”

    And in your own mind you’ll possibly ask yourself if this was a good idea. You know you agreed to the arrangement and supported it. But was it a wise choice? “Maybe if we had waited a few more years.” “Maybe if we had planned a little longer.” “Maybe God wasn’t specific enough in His command.” “Did we mis-understand Him?”

    All these things and more come popping into our minds without warning. It’s up to us to face our fears and “stare them down”. Then tuck them into some compartment in your mind (if you have to).

    Personally I’d write them down – each one on a separate piece of paper – and start writing solutions to each as I think of them. Some of my solutions are pretty wild (but nobody knows this except me (and now, you)).

    I’d imagine that one of the hardest problems you’ll encounter is both of you being home all day – every day. I have some suggestions on what to watch for and how to deal with situations – if you’re interested I’ll talk about them some other time.

    Anyway – I just want you to know we’re thinking about you – and excited for you – and hoping all the best for all of you.

    More another time – meantime – be good – The Lady, Anne

  5. That’s a very good metaphor for our current experiences. I like it much better than the one I created about tightrope walking. There’s a lot more room for error on a pioneer trek than on a tightrope walk.

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