Once we arrived - the kids and supervisors were given little in the way of direction - it's lucky most of them made it on the hill... But we did make it. Meghan had to go for a quick ski test, and then had a 1 hour lesson. I took advantage and headed up the hill.

It was an absolutely beautiful day for skiing. Clear sky, warm sun on the face, little in the way of wind and around -10c. There weren't many at the hill - it was a tuesday after all - mostly retirees and the school kids. The lifts take a little while to get to the top, but getting into the lift on my first trip up, I got to ride up with a retired couple. Since it does take a bit, there's lots of time to chit chat, and downhillers are among the nicest out there. Friendly and chatty. Any given day, you could hear a hundred different stories. Who they are, where they're from, line of work, kids, other ski hills and of course the weather... every story is unique. They're usually surprised to hear that I have 3 kids, have lived in the U.S, Germany and worked in so many different places. Have to admit, that feels pretty good.

And then there are the times, when you get to ride up with just your thoughts. Just look around, take it all in. There's a great view of the Ottawa Valley, the local lake and river, the hills of Quebec can even be seen from there. And there's lots of time to think...

Of course, I'm thinking about the company issues, where I should apply next... but really being quite content at just getting away from it for the day. Relaxing. Having fun. Enjoying life. I'd only come to find out later, that while I was trying to forget about it all - it was happening anyways. But more on that later.

Meghan and her friends had a great time. Had lunch at the chalet, and then a full afternoon of skiing. Took a little longer than expected to get everyone back, as the buses were running late, but all in all - it was a great day.

On my way back, I received a text from Sara that 'the sh!t had hit the fan today at Q' - doh, that didn't sound good. I had already agreed to help our friend pick up his new car that day - so was running late for that, but had this news looming overhead. He was happy to finally get his RAV4, the bus strike had been a huge pain for him just arriving and not having any mode of transportation... We were going to hit Canadian Tire for a shovel and a few other things, but I asked him if we could skip it for the day - I had a few other things to take care of...

Got to the house, rushed downstairs to check my voice mails, sure enough I had one from my boss. Uh oh - that's not good. Tried to login, as the first that happens when you're laid off - is that your account is removed. I was able to login, good maybe I'm not quite done yet... Spoke to my boss a little while later, and he broke the news.



Well - it wasn't exactly like that...but you get the idea. They had announced it earlier in the day (ironically while I was busy trying to forget about it all going up the lift!) that the factory would be closed, and that I had two weeks left. I wasn't really surprised. The company had been on life support for sometime, and I had been looking around - but didn't quite start looking soon enough I guess.

Luckily - it won't be a complete break. There won't be any severance package - but they'll be paying out a few things at least... we'll be ok for awhile, but I won't have to chance to be as picky now. It's the kick in butt I needed - time to try something new.

So, that's how you have a perfect day...almost.