Just a hello

Beta

Well-Known Member
Good morning all---I have missed all of you. Just a quick update---The last two months have been rough. At the end of July I had a kidney stone that had to be removed and I spent a couple of weeks recovering from that. I have been working many hours at a local Walmart, hating every moment of it, and have now given my notice. The stress and unpleasant working environment was too much. I am taking a lower paying job in our community just four minutes away, just to have less stress to deal with. But I have thought of you all many times and have wondered what's going on in your lives. I have to stop now and get ready for another day at Wally World (just four more days!) but I just wanted to pop in and say hi. Love to you all.
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
Beta

So glad you checked in. Sorry to hear about your kidney stone but glad you are on the mend.

Also good that you moved onto another job. It's not always about the money; peace of mind is very important.

My family is well. Our son made the Dean's List this summer semester. We are very proud of him. He still drinks some but not as much or as often. He is really looking to make a good future for himself. I still worry about his socialization, really has no friends or girlfriend here yet but I keep praying that he finds the right people to socialize with.

How is your son?
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
Hey Beta,

I worked for Kmart for four years - mostly awful - so I hear you on the Walmart thing. Glad you were able to find something else. Kidney stone - wow, that's no joke. Hope the next four days at work aren't too bad.
 

Deni D

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.
Staff member
Hi Beta ~ Sorry to hear about your kidney stone, glad that's behind you.

I'm pretty sure I could not handle working at Wally World, it's an adventure just going there to shop. It sounds like that move to a different place could be a really good one. I hope you have a nice working environment and with good people, both co-workers and customers.

This change shows you are looking after yourself, something that somehow eludes us when we have all of our attention on our troubled ones. Small steps to a different life, it's a great thing. Once we figure out our suffering doesn't change things one wit for our adult children and get out of the guilt and worry (mostly) I think is when we can figure out what we need to do for ourselves. Right?

Love ya too! :)
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
Dear Beta

I am sorry you were ill. I'm glad you've quit Walmart and have found the closer, less stressful job. Thank you for touching base. So glad you've checked in. How is it, generally, being in your new area and home? You've had so much on your plate this year!
 

Crayola13

Well-Known Member
Kidney stones are painful even for women. Mine were the size of a grain of sand, but it still hurt. I don't blame you for quitting Walmart.
 

Beta

Well-Known Member
Our son made the Dean's List this summer semester.
That's awesome, and you have a lot to be proud of. He seems to have really turned his life around. Josh seems to be stable at the moment. He has been collecting Covid unemployment but that is coming to an end and he will need to look for work. He keeps in touch and is not angry or ugly toward us as he was before. I hope this continues. I am hoping he will fly home for Thanksgiving, but I don't know if he will or not. He can be kind of reclusive.
 

Beta

Well-Known Member
I worked for Kmart for four years - mostly awful - so I hear you on the Walmart thing. Glad you were able to find something else. Kidney stone - wow, that's no joke. Hope the next four days at work aren't too bad.
Thanks KTMom. I'm getting too old to do that kind of work. If you're in Walmart and you see an online grocery picker, be nice. They have a tough job.
 

Beta

Well-Known Member
Hi Beta ~ Sorry to hear about your kidney stone, glad that's behind you.

I'm pretty sure I could not handle working at Wally World, it's an adventure just going there to shop. It sounds like that move to a different place could be a really good one. I hope you have a nice working environment and with good people, both co-workers and customers.
Thank you Deni D. I had no idea it was going to be so physical in nature. I've also observed that at Wal-Mart, employees are just a "cog in the machine." If you don't work out or if you leave, they just hire another "cog" and throw them into the machine and hope they "stick." I have found the place to be very impersonal and demoralizing. I hope this grocery store job will be a pleasant environment.
 

Beta

Well-Known Member
How is it, generally, being in your new area and home? You've had so much on your plate this year!
Hey Copa! Well...I've had a lot of second thoughts lately about our decision to move here. While we do like our new home and it's nice to not have to be renting, I have to say that our "old life" is looking kind of good right now. In some ways, we have lost or given up things that I didn't anticipate. Yes, we have had a lot on our plate but I think all of us have actually; what with this Covid thing, etc. We lived in the Atlanta area in the mid-80's and liked it but we were in a modern, urban area of Atlanta. Now we are living in a small town about 65 miles outside of Atlanta, and let me tell you--it is so different! To be honest, it is kind of "podunk" in the way people live and act and the access to things. We will just have to adjust and make the best of it. Thanks for asking.
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
Now we are living in a small town about 65 miles outside of Atlanta, and let me tell you--it is so different! To be honest, it is kind of "podunk" in the way people live and act and the access to things
Hi Beta

I am glad to hear some of the details. I think I can relate. I live in a podunk place, too. And I have never seen or experienced myself as that, nor sought out people I experienced as that. Even with typing that, I feel a loss. I am an urban person born in a big city, and always loving big metropolises and nearly always living in big cities, and needing urbane people.

Yet, I have been living for almost 12 years in a small city in the "exurbs" where it sounds like you are too. Here, there is NOTHING that I needed in terms of how I lived my life. But now I feel at peace here..

What are here are dozens and dozens of churches, gyms, and auto suppy stores. That's it. But I'm here, and that has made it home.

All of that said, after a dozen years, what has deepened is both my faith and my relationship with myself. When all there is to do is, is NOTHING I have bumped into myself and gone deeper.

I am in a position where I could move, but now my life is here. It may not be in fancy restaurants or cafes or stores or the activities I thought sustained me, such as going to art classes, but my life now is far more centered at home. I don't think I need so much the diversions as I thought I did. The access to external things, was not such a strong need afterall.

I am glad you gave us the update.
 

Beta

Well-Known Member
Kidney stones are painful even for women. Mine were the size of a grain of sand, but it still hurt.
Yikes--you had more than one? My was about the size of a very tiny seed. I was amazed that something so small could cause so much pain.
 

MissLulu

Well-Known Member
Hi Beta, so lovely to hear from you. I have been wondering how you were getting on. Glad to hear that Josh is stable right now. that must be a blessing with everything else you have going on. sorry to hear you've been unwell - kidney stones seem to be terribly painful - but great to hear you are doing better now.

I have a question for you and/or @Copabanana! What does "podunk" mean? This is not a word we use in Australia. I think I can guess from context but I'd love one of you do give me a definition! I wonder what the origin of the word is? It's not often I hear a word in American English that I don't understand, so I'm fascinated!

@Beta I'm sorry the move hasn't been all you had hoped for, but maybe in time it will reveal its own rewards. We moved to where we are now (a small coastal town) almost ten years ago. It took me a long time to get used to it, but I love it now!
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
The terms podunk and Podunk Hollow in American English denote or describe an insignificant, out-of-the-way, or even completely fictitious town. These terms are often used in the upper case as a placeholder name, to indicate "insignificance" and "lack of importance".
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
We moved to what is called the Eastern Shore of the Alabama Coast 2 years ago from a SW suburb of Chicago.

I still don't think we've emotionally slowed down enough but am told it takes about four years to "reset"! So maybe you just need to give it more time.

Where we live would not be considered podunk but outlying areas certainly could be considered that, or what you'd think of when you think of Alabama in general. But it is absolutely gorgeous!!
 

newstart

Well-Known Member
Good morning all---I have missed all of you. Just a quick update---The last two months have been rough. At the end of July I had a kidney stone that had to be removed and I spent a couple of weeks recovering from that. I have been working many hours at a local Walmart, hating every moment of it, and have now given my notice. The stress and unpleasant working environment was too much. I am taking a lower paying job in our community just four minutes away, just to have less stress to deal with. But I have thought of you all many times and have wondered what's going on in your lives. I have to stop now and get ready for another day at Wally World (just four more days!) but I just wanted to pop in and say hi. Love to you all.

Hi Beta, Glad you are following your heart and going for a job that is better for you. Hope everything falls into place for you very soon. Thank you for the update.
 

JayPee

Sending good vibes...
Hi Beta
Glad you made it through the kidney stone. I know several people who have had them and it was a very rough process to get through. I hope you continue to adjust and take care of yourself. Good to hear from you. Be well.
 
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