So the summer is over, and I returned to university. This would be my last year. I’d graduate in the spring and then see what happens. My goal is to get a job in radio. I loved my job! It was only on a casual basis, but it gave me the chance to get great experience and learn the ropes. I did do some on-air work, which was awesome, but my main job was producing remotes. When the announcer was out on location, I would be back in the control room making everything “happen”. I played the music, I ran the commercials, I made sure he got on the air when he was supposed to. It’s pretty fast-paced, but it was just that which made me love it so much. A “tight” show was a good show. I had tight shows. The gang that worked at the station were second-to-none. There were a lot of good times there. I even had the chance to produce shows for Mike. We were always very professional when we worked together. This was no place for our personal life.

We still ran into “the other fella” as he still worked there as well, but between the two of us we decided that the only way he could bother us would be if we let him. We went about our duties and eventually he did the same. He was 10 years my senior, for heaven’s sake; it was time for him to grow up.

One day after my classes ended I took my weekly jaunt to the station to check in and see if there was any work coming up. My boss took me in the office and instead of looking in the remote book he said he needed to talk to me. He started off by saying he didn’t think there was room in radio for a female voice. Excuse me??? He didn’t see me going anywhere in the business. Pardon??? He suggested I was wasting my time. I asked him why the sudden change of heart? I was a top-notch producer, I had been there for them for every call, for every shift and I had received nothing but glowing reviews from everyone in the station - including him. There was something more and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I knew what it was.

The station was beginning to down-size. Automation was becoming the way of the future and shows/announcers were being cut. My new husband was one of them. It all comes down to a union vs. management thing that I don’t need to get into, but suffice it to say Mike was unjustifiably wronged by management, a grievance was filed and it went to arbitration - Mike won his case. The writing was on the wall. He was black-listed by management and they now wanted me out of there.

Little did he know that by telling me there was no place in radio for a female, he could have had a law suit on his hands. CRTC regulations stated that a certain percentage of the staff (on-air included) had to be female. Did I want to fight it? Yes. Did I fight it? No. Mike still worked there and we had to “play nice” - sort of.

Just like that I am without a job. It wasn’t much to begin with, but it helped. Now what? I went home and told Mike and then we went out for one of our infamous drives. Sometimes it was easier for us to discuss things without Mom and Dad being in earshot. We ended up at the mall and stopped to talk to a friend of ours. She worked at Suzy Shier where I had shopped for as long as I could remember. I knew most of the girls there: they were great. My friend’s boss was there as I was telling her about my day. Louise (the manager) said that she just hired someone yesterday for full-time. Damn. Oh well, maybe around Christmas time something else would come up. I had lots of retail experience and Louise knew me from working in the mall.

When I got home my friend called me and said that Louise wanted to talk to me. Long story short she offered me a full-time job!!! 3 hours after losing a job I had another one, but full-time??? What about university? *sigh* It never rains but it pours. I had a decision to make. I had a home to support, but I also had an education to get. Louise said she would work around my classes as best she could and we talked about my schedule. Evenings and Saturday’s worked for her. Looked like we were in business.

My new life back in retail was working well. Classes were going well. Life was good. Busy, but good. A few months after I started at Suzy Shier, one of the full-time keyholders left. I was next in line. This would mean dayshifts. Another decision. Mike and I talked and it wasn’t something I wanted to pass up. Mike’s hours dropped and this could be just the thing to make up the difference.

Now the hard part. I had to tell Mom and Dad that I was dropping out of university for now to go to work. In retail. Unfortunately, it didn’t go over very well. I was smarter than that. Did I want to work in retail the rest of my life? they expected more from me than that. They knew something like this was going to happen. I returned to the apartment crying. I hated disappointing them, but ultimately I had to do what was necessary for Mike and I - and right now that was having me go to work.

How it’s all going to go is anyone’s guess. We’ll just have to wait and see. God knows it won’t be easy.

Until next time…

As wonderful as the wedding and honeymoon were, I was looking forward to getting back to “normal”.  I was returning to university in the fall and Mike was returning to work at the radio station where I would also continue to work as much as possible once I had my course-load settled.  We’d be fine.  Financially, there wasn’t much of a difference than before we were married.  The money Mike spent traveling back and forth  between his place and mine would now be spent on rent and groceries.  We were gonna be ok.

After returning home I still had a week or so before classes started.  This gave me the chance to get the apartment settled.  It was fun to be able to go through all of our wedding gifts again. Holy smokes, we received a TON of stuff!  I had no idea where I was going to put it all.  There was nothing that I had to go out and buy. (**Seriously, 15 years later we were still taking new linens out of the linen closet and I opened the last set of bedding we had from our wedding!  Hhhmmmm, maybe it’s time for another shower or reception so we can restock! Oh well, our 25th is only 8 years away…LOL!)

There wasn’t a huge adjustment period for us getting used to living with one another.  The last year and a half while we dated Mike spent most night sleeping on the couch in our rec room anyway.  The 25 minute drive from my house to his just didn’t seem worth it when most times he’d be getting out of bed and heading over again, anyway.

The major adjustment came from living underneath my parents.  Now don’t get me wrong.  It really did work well (otherwise there is no way we would have been there for 7 years!) but there were times, let me tell you!!  Mom and Dad still wanted to know everything that was going on with us, and in the beginning I wanted to still tell them.  They were my parents, I told them everything — well not everything!  My mother (God love her) and my father both, but mostly Mom, had opinions about everything that we did.  If we dared to come home with something new that looked even a little bit expensive, Mom had a snit on her face.  She couldn’t NOT ask how much money we spent or what we felt we needed that for.

Herein started the arguments.   *sigh*  And I am ashamed to admit that 99.9%, well maybe not that much, but I bet you a good 95% of the arguments we have ever had over the last 17 years were thanks to little ol’ me, here.  In the beginning I was hell-bent on trying to  please Mom and Dad.  They, of course, were my parents and I did still live under their roof, after all.  WRONG METHOD OF THINKING! Unfortunately,  this method of thinking led to many hours of useless bickering and out and out verbal fights in our lives.  Thinking back now, I was such an idiot.  BUT, in my own defense, my philosophy seemed logical at the time.

See, as much as Mom, Dad and I fought when I was growing up, I idolized them both.  More so  Dad than Mom. I was Daddy’s Little Girl.  Dad was my Hero.  He was everything I grew to admire in a man.  I wanted my husband to be just like him.   He was a hard worker, he was very well known and respected in our community and he knew more people than I could ever possible hope to know.  If he wanted (or needed) something doe, he did it.  He knew how to do everything.  He never had to get anyone to do anything for him.  He was amazing!  He was an electrician by trade, but there was nothing he couldn’t do.  He built many houses, he was very smart and was involved in many outside organizations.  And Mom - well she was just Superwoman.   She was a SAHM her entire life.  Our home was always spotless.  Her job was taking care of her family, and she did it better than anyone I knew.

I don’t know if I wanted needed their approval, or what.  But it was to the point that I basically included them in every facet of our lives.  They knew what we were doing, when we were doing it and any time we had an issue I had to run it by them first.  You can begin to see why my husband would have trouble with this.  I would constantly compare Mike to Dad.  The two of them are very similar in so many ways, but there are naturally ways in which they are very different.  Mike is not as “hand’s-on” as my Dad is.  I don’t know if after living with Dad for so long and seeing so much of my family just know how to “do” stuff, I figured every guy was like that or what, but it near drove me nuts that Mike couldn’t just fix things or turn his hand to whatever had to be done.  I struggled with this for a long time.  Many years, in fact.

More times than not - in the beginning - Mike would just let me spout off.  I can only imagine how I made him feel at times.  I could be pretty nasty when I wanted to be.  There would be nights he’d go to work with a headache bad enough to cripple and elephant, I’m sure.  But, we always got through it.  9 times out of 10 he’d end up bowing to me and conceding just to keep the peace, I have no doubt.

Again, hindsight is 20/20.  Given the chance to live it all over, now that I’m older and have 17 years more experience behind me I certainly know I caused a lot of turmoil for nothing.  However, everything that we have gone through has brought us to where we are today.

Have things gotten any easier?  In some ways, yes.  But unbeknownst  to me the trials and tribulations were just beginning.

There is still the whole work fiasco ahead of us.  Arguing over my parents would soon become the least of our problems.

Until next time…

Here are a few pics:

Wow!  Shame on me.  I have been quite negligent, haven’t I?  I honestly have no idea where the last 7 weeks have gone.  It’s been a whirlwind, for sure.  Life in our house has been going pretty good.  We’ve had some bumps getting ourselves settled since our new family member arrived, but we’re working through them.  The best news, though is Matthew.  He has adjusted absolutely wonderfully to Marcus and the changes that have happened.  I know I’ve said it before but he’s like a little ol’ man.  He told me the other day that he couldn’t believe he wanted a sister…lol!  He has more hugs and kisses for his brother than I think I have received in the last 11 years from him!  Considering what I had myself prepared for, his reaction and acceptance have been so enjoyable.  It’s been so amazing to sit and watch Matthew interact with Marcus.  He has so much love, he’s so gentle and he stops whatever he’s doing to come and make sure his brother is alright.  Hhhhmm, I wonder how long that will continue? LOL!

We are anxiously awaiting July 13.  Mike will be taking 10 weeks Paternity Leave and we can’t wait!!  This will be the first time since we were married that we both had any amount of time off during the summer.  We have a few plans - we rented a cabin in The Highlands for a few days and we are planning a trip to New Brunswick in August.  It’ll be gone before we know it, but I intend on enjoying every last second of it!

Alright, so before I interrupted my blog wayyyy back in September to follow my pregnancy, I was talking about the Story of Tracey and Mike.  After receiving a couple of requests to resume the story, I’m going to attempt to get my butt back in gear.  We left off at the Honeymoon, didn’t we?  Maybe I’ll go back to September and refresh my mind and hopefully tomorrow we’ll get back at it.  There’s still so much to the story….

Until next time…