What others think

I think in general, it is a fair statement to say that most of us care to some degree, about what others think of us. I mean, I try to be all cool and collected and act like I don't, but deep down, I do. At least for the most part. It is like there is an imaginary gage present that measures the type of person you are by the way others perceive you.

I have the most amazing friends. There have been so many changes going on in my life over the past month or so, and I am not a big fan of change. It scares me to death. Even before the whole loss of my job thing, I found out that I was going to have a grandchild at the ripe old age of 36. Those two things, in additon to the typical day to day challenges are enough to scare the be-jeebies out of about anyone.

When I first made my announcement that I was thinking about publishing my own paper, my friends were there to an amazing extent. My family's reaction was mixed. I announced it at a family get together this past weekend. I pretty much didn't get a reaction at all. That kind of scared me. Tonight, I talked with one of my sisters about it. She made me feel much better.

Anyone locally knows that we have an anonymous forum that gets posts from all sorts of people. I didn't have a problem before with anything like that, until I saw so many people get hurt over some of the remarks written on there. I have been featured on that forum many times myself. I didn't have a thick skin when I first started my job at the paper but over time, I have developed a layer or two. Well, it turns out, I am featured on there once again. (Surprise, surprise)

I first looked yesterday. My oldest daughter had a friend over to visit and she told me that I should look because I had some really nice comments written on there about me, so naturally, I looked. There were some of the sweetest comments of encouragement from my readers and friends wishing me well in my future endeavors. Then, there was the last post. Someone (who apparently despises me) had written a comment calling me a "princess". They went on to say that I should not have left my job, that "some money is better than no money".

Since I don't post on anything that I will not sign my name to, I am going to reply to them here and hope since they have such a vested interest in me and what I should and should not do- that they read this.

First off, I am a firm believer in what goes around, comes around. I sure hope their paycheck is there come payday. If not, just keep in mind that "some money is better than no money". Seriously, there are laws against this type of thinking. That is why there is a minimum wage implemented and overtime pay requirements. If employers could get by with paying what they wanted, when they wanted to, then there would be unpaid workers everywhere. There would be no workforce as we know it. Secondly, if this person wanted to spend one single day dealing with all I did and then wanted to call me a princess, they would be crazy. Others lives and their struggles will never appear in entirety to any of us because we don't live it.

I am happy to report that things are on track for the opening of our new paper the first week in March. In the meantime, I am working toward that objective every day and cleaning (a lot), running errands, picking up kids, coaching my girls' basketball team, cooking dinner and paying bills on the side. Not too shabby for a "princess", huh? I wonder if Cinderella's back hurts at night too?