A sad day and a day of laughter

Last Monday, Bianca came home from school with a list of interview questions. She was supposed to pick one of her parents and interview them about what they do for work. She was excited to tell me that she picked me. I answered her questions about the skills a person needs to write for the newspaper and what my favorite thing about writing was. She was supposed to bring an object along as well to represent what that parent did (a copy of the newspaper).

It was that night that I found out the Salt Lake Tribune would no longer be taking stories from the correspondents. In an effort to save a little money, the full-time Tribune staff was going to be carrying the Close-up section from now on. I stared at the email from my editor in shock as I read that I was no longer going to have my job. I didn't cry until I told Bianca that she may want to interview Eric instead. Her little lips quivered as she said, "You lost your job?" And then the tears started flowing--hers and mine.

This was a dream job for someone like me. I got to write articles only when I felt like it and on the topics I wanted to write about. I got to see my name in print for a high-profile newspaper. It was exactly what I needed. And now it's gone.

I am sad. I know it won't affect my day-to-day. I was only writing articles every other month as I've been busy with my baby during her needy stage. And I didn't need the money. I did this for fun. I won't look for anything to replace this. I loved this job, and apparently so did Bianca. She went on so many of my "outings" with me when I'd write--like Christmas parties, plays, I even did my last article on her chess club. I guess she was proud of me.

When Eric asked Bianca why she chose me instead of him, I laughed. It's long been a joke around our house that nobody really knows what Eric does. Words like operations and analysis and data cannot be brought along to second grade to show your classmates what your parent does for a living. As a joke, I asked Eric to explain to Bianca what he does. So he explained about operations and data analysis. Her eyes were glazing over. When he finished, I immediately asked her what her dad does at work and she replied, "He makes models of electrical studies." I about died laughing. She's really a smart girl, but even I still have a hard time explaining to anyone who asks what he does.