Pulling Things Together

For the past 15 years, Mr. G and I have had separate email accounts mostly due to his job being so vastly different from our family and us as a couple.  What we use to do is share emails back and forth of couple related things, concerns about the kids and extended family as well as world events.  Very few emails were shared with me, if any, about his job related stuff.  Working in his field does that.  There is a sort of separation when a spouse works in corrections.  Their desire, for the most part, is to leave it behind when walking out the door.  They don't want to talk about the "nitty-gritty" because it is grotesque or spiritually bothersome.  They want to "protect" their loved ones--including their spouses--from the not so pleasantries of their job.

Let's face it--they work IN THE PIT OF HELL willingly every single day.

Mr. G recently received a promotion and is no longer in direct contact with "clients", so the "icky" stories have ceased for the most part.  Occasionally there are a few stories, but nothing on the scale that have happened the past 19 years.  Things are settling down for him.  The daily work he does is normally routine and doesn't change much.  

His sight is now changing to look toward his retirement.  Since getting his promotion, he's not been so sure about retiring in 2015.  He's thought about staying on and possibly moving up in the ranks, but we'll see what the future holds.  In the mean time, we bathe it in prayer.

For now, we're beginning the arduous task of combining our email accounts.  It will just begin there.  I'm not sure if it will go further, to Facebook, or if it will just be email.  I can't see that far ahead.  I am working to learn gmail and all that google provides.  I'm importing email addresses from both of our accounts.  I am gradually taking out "doubles" of people's email addresses, adding detail and putting various people in to email groups like "family", "close friends", "Mr. G's work friends" and etc.  He and I will no doubt spend a couple of hours going through his email contacts to "tidy" those up as well.  

So it begins, pulling each of our individual accounts together.  Why?  Because we will not need individual accounts soon and since it has been 15 years that we've kept our emails separate, it's a rather large task that will take some time.  

What is the criteria?  People who we're keeping as contacts deserve to have detail added to their name, for example--telephone number, spouse's name, children's names and their physical mailing address so we can send them cards after Mr. G retires.  What about those who we're not keeping?  We honestly haven't made it that far yet.  I'm giving Mr. G plenty of time to pray about whether or not to keep particular people as contacts in our joint email address list.  We're starting small and working slowly and methodically on the list.  

Things are changing for us.  We're getting older, our life is changing, our kids are growing up and doing more things outside the house in volunteer capacities.  We need to adjust, spend more time together--working, praying, and playing--and enjoy the changes taking place, embracing them as we begin the slow move to another season of our lives.  Even though our youngest will be under our tutelage another 4.5 years, making the slow and steady transition now makes sense.  

God Bless,

Mr. and Mrs. G