Blessings are sometimes hard as a brick

I got a job!  It is a really great blessing for us.  We needed the income (there's nothing like paying out for school for a few extra years, now it's time to bring some in.)  The timing was perfect.  I am done with classes, and only have a few obligations left for my master's degree.  Jon is around to help out/be a nanny (or manny, as male nannies are called in Hollywood)/chauffeur the kids around.  The job is very interesting.  It's with a consulting firm, so private enterprise, which I've never worked in before.  It's a great resume builder, and could open quite a few doors in the future.

It is, however, quite a challenge.  I have to drive to Bakersfield, about 2 hours away, and stay in a motel for the days that I work.  We leave the motel at 6:20 to get to the field office by 7 to get our orders for the day.  We walk. A lot.  On Friday, I walked/trudged 6.5 miles in 7.5 hours.  Total time working, including driving from the field office to the survey location (about 5 miles off the nearest paved road) was 10.5 hours.  So, another blessing!  Overtime!  But, also hard.  I was totally exhausted yesterday and today.  I fell asleep for a couple of hours this afternoon, and couldn't kick my headache until I woke up.  This, I think, is not the kind of job I can do forever and ever.  But, it is a really great learning experience, so I'll stick it out until the current project is over sometime next spring, and try to get a job where at least sometimes I get to sit at a desk.

On top of that great and challenging blessing, my whole family got another one this week.  My amazing grandma, who is about to turn 95, has started down what appears to be her slide into heaven.  She has been a huge blessing to every member of her family.  She has loved us, put us up in her home, shared her hard-earned money with us, when we haven't really done anything to earn it, and supported us in our crazy endeavors.  We adore her.  But, I know she's getting tired.  She single-handedly cared for my grandpa until his death, about 15 years after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's.  His needs were her first priority for a long time, and weighed on her heavily.  Now, it's about time for her to be with him again, and he can do a little doting on her when she gets there.  It will be a blessing to know that she's at peace, although she hasn't been particularly suffering for a long time.  She has been in fantastic health, as a matter of fact.   But, I know she's not really comfortable right now, stuck in a hospital room.  I called her yesterday while I was at A.J.'s game, and I think she enjoyed the play-by-play.  A.J. even caught a foul ball while playing first base while I chatted with her.

Thinking back on her personality, I think she was a pretty fun person.  She is the middle of three daughters.  She wanted to be a doctor, just like her dad.  Later, not long after she and grandpa were married, she caught a huge salmon, while wearing pants.  The photo of her holding her prize is my favorite one of her.

Doesn't she look like a super fun person?  She and my grandpa used to attend lots of Mizzou football games together.  There are some pretty good stories from those, too, or so I've heard, anyway.  She's little, but you probably shouldn't mess with her.  She's a little rural southern belle.  Very proper, always well-dressed, but says "tomatuh" and "potatuh."  It's pretty darn cute.  I love my grandma.

Update:  Her kids decided to stop some medicine or other, and either she would improve or not.  Strong, crazy woman that she is went and improved.  I think she's still in the hospital, but she's talking and moving around.  Such a fighter.  I told you not to mess with her.  :)