Patience, Grasshopper.

This coming Monday is Sweetie's final day at work.  As of Tuesday, he is retired.

Knowing this was coming, he has been keeping on the look out for another job.  Two other possibilities fell through, but in my prayers about the situation, i kept feeling nothing but peace, and the idea that i just needed to be patient.

There's been no stress associated with it, just the knowledge that there would be something, and it would show up just in time.

Sweetie has felt the same way.

The Big Boss, however, has been getting more and more panicked over the thought of him leaving.  A couple of months ago, he talked about rehiring him.  Then he tried to make an offer.  He asked Sweetie to come back to his exact same job, just with a different title and for the private portion of the company instead of the state, and for half the salary.

Let's see.  Same work.  Same office, that he desperately wants to get out of.  Same group of people, the "band of eight balls," all trying to dump extra work on him.   Same extra work on weekends and same extra events for the person there that no one wants to deal with because of his nasty tempter.

All for half the salary.  Um, no.  Just, no.

Patience, i kept telling myself.  This is all going to work out.

Indeed.  Desperation makes people give in to terms, and The Big Boss finally got to where he would hear terms.  There are things Sweetie does there that no one else knows how to do, knowledge of people and places and sources and resources that go away when he does, and The Big Boss doesn't want to lose all of that.

The retirement goes as planned.  Sweetie works on Monday, and the rest of the week, he gets to kick back and relax.  He's retired.

Then, the following Monday, he goes back in, on his terms.

He won't have to be tied to an office.  He will be a consultant, part time.  He will answer to no one but The Big Boss himself.  His work will be limited to certain specific responsibilities that help The Big Boss.  He will not have to work any weekends or events.  The pay will be adequate, when added to his retirement benefit and my work.

That's what he was hoping for, and holding out for, and it worked.  Let the other person get to where he really wants it badly enough, and he'll give you what you want on your terms.

This will leave Sweetie with plenty of time to start forming a band and getting to "gig" in local restaurants, which is what he really wants to do with his life.

Patience, Grasshopper.  Play the cards right, and you can get it the way you want it.


Today is

Armed Forces Day -- Great Britain

ARRL Field Day -- American Radio Relay League'swww.aarl.org/fieldday most popular on-air operating event, in which amateur/ham radio operators practice and drill for communications during emergencies; through tomorrow

Constitution day -- Ukraine

Festival of Terrible Poetry -- according to The Daily Bleed, and since there is some hilarious, if terrible, poetry out there, go find some, and bust a gut

Galesburg Railroad Days -- Galesburg, IL, US (celebrating the city's railroad heritage with carnival, exhibits, and more; through tomorrow)

Gettysburg Civil War Relic and Collectors Show -- Gettysburg, PA, US (featuring leading collectors and dealers; through tomorrow)

Great American Backyard Campout -- sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation

Great American Picnic Day -- various dates given, with the most common being the final Saturday of June

Insurance Awareness Day -- now who do you think invented that!?!

International Body Piercing Day -- on the birthday of James Mark "Jim" Ward, "the granddaddy of the modern body piercing movement"

International CAPS LOCK DAY -- a parody holiday created by Derek Arnold, a user on Metafilter, in 2000

Ladies of Country and Bluegrass Music Show -- Waretown, NJ, US (at the historic Albert Music Hall)

Mnarja / L-Imnarja Festival begins -- Buskett Gardens, Malta (folk festival for Sts. Peter and Paul, begins this evening and continues through the 29th)

National Ceviche Day

National Tapioca Day

Paul Bunyan Day -- the tall tale hero of the lumberjacks; celebrated at different times in some parts of the country, but most sites cite this date

Purple Hull Pea Festival and World Champion Rotary Tiller Contest -- Emerson, AR, US (the tiny town of Emerson, population 368, puts on a big show that also includes a World Cup Purplehull Pea-Shelling competiton)

Ra goes forth to propitiate the Nun -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Ramadan -- Islam (began sunset yesterday, through July 29)

Stonewall Rebellion Day -- now seen as the start of the gay liberation movement in 1969

St. Irenaeus' Day (Patron of Mobile, Alabama)

St. Paul's Feast -- Kato Paphos, Cyprus (religious festivities with the archbishop officiating and a procession of the icon of St. Paul through the streets, through tomorrow)

St. Peter's Eve -- English Christian tradition, night of bonfires and continuation of midsummer celebrations

Thanksgiving for Useful Fairies -- Fairy Calendar

(FinalSat)Veteranendag -- Netherlands (Veterans Day)

Vidovdan (Festival for St. Vitus) -- Eastern Orthodox Christian, based on the traditional Julian Calendar date
     a recognized holiday in Bosnia and Herzegovina


Anniversaries Today:

Harry S. Truman marries Bess Wallace, 1919


Birthdays Today:

Kellie Pickler, 1986
Steve Burton, 1970
Danielle Brisebois, 1969
John Cusack, 1966
Mary Stuart Masterson, 1966
Mark Grace, 1964
John Elway, 1960
Thomas Hampson, 1955
Alice Krige, 1954
Kathy Bates, 1948
Gilda Radner, 1946
Bruce Davison, 1946
Turkan Soray, 1945
Pat Morita, 1932
Mel Brooks, 1926
Maria Goeppert Mayer, 1906
Richard Rodgers, 1902
Clara Louise Maass, 1876
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712
John Wesley, 1703
Peter Paul Rubens, 1577
Henry VIII, King of England, 1491


Debuting/Premiering Today:

The Nutty Professor(Film), 1996
"Amos 'n' Andy"(TV), 1951
"Quiz Kids"(Radio), 1940


Today in History:

Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul, 1098
Ottomans defeat Serbian army in the bloody Battle of Kosovo, opening the way for the Ottoman conquest of Southeastern Europe, 1389
Guadeloupe becomes a French colony, 1635
The coronation of Victoria of the United Kingdom, 1838
The Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique in Paris premieres the ballet Giselle, 1841
The first conformation dog show is held in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, 1859
Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Sarajevo by young Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, the casus belli of World War I, 1914
The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, formally ending World War I, 1919
The Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts in Dublin by Free State forces, 1922
Israel annexes East Jerusalem, 1967
COMECON, as part of the last vestige of the Soviet Bloc, is formally disbanded, followed by the Warsaw pact 3 days later, 1991
Slobodan Milosevic is deported to ICTY to stand trial, 2001
The Republic of Montenegro is admitted as the 192nd Member of the United Nations, 2006
The U.N. reports 10 million people are effected by the worst drought in 60 years, 2011