Happy Thanksgiving

I wouldn’t normally go to the trouble to post a holiday message. That said, I’m not completely cynical and you might as well take stock of what you’re thankful for on today of all days, but this Thanksgiving has a little extra significance.

Although not necessarily a surprise, Thanksgiving Eve was capped off with a nice email from VES, welcoming me (back) into their fold. After sending off my newly “wet” inked packet last week, I was hoping for an email on Monday. When nothing came all the way through Wednesday afternoon, I just assumed they had worked a short week if any at all, and I wouldn’t be hearing from them until next week at the earliest. So, it came as a slight surprise on late Wednesday afternoon to receive two welcome emails from VES staff.

After so many months without work and the drawn out process with VES, there have definitely been times when I wondered if I was ever going back to work or not. I’ve still been checking my TSP account daily to see if the VA ever completed their transaction to get my status changed. This was still the back up plan if I never got work again - withdraw enough funds to payoff the mortgage so we could free up some additional money into the monthly budget.

Now, with this news, it should be feasible for me to earn a decent income with just a part time schedule. I responded and let them know my schedule preferences. It will probably be next week before I hear back from them. I have to go through the initial training session/walkthrough before they will schedule me, and after that I think the first few shifts will be lighter. Hopefully I’ll be able to assume a regular part time schedule before year’s end.

It’s nice to head into the holiday with a light on the horizon.

Addendum - as a nice added bonus, I checked my TSP account yesterday and it appears the VA finally got them to update my status as a separated employee. Hopefully, I’ll have no reason to access these accounts other than checking the balance for six more years. After that time, and depending on how things are going in our world, we’ll probably start drawing a monthly check that should last us for around thirty years, which should be more than adequate for our future plans/expectations. Not a bad Thanksgiving if I do say so myself.