Stunned

I recently recieved the news that one of my first cousins just died. This is a total shock to all of us, as we had no idea she was ill - all I know is that she got a fast acting cancer of some sort. Details are sketchy not just for me, which would be understandable considering how far away I live, but for my family that lives near her.

I've also learned, almost by chance, that all of her siblings have had cancer battles - I'd only known of one. Add to that, their father died just a few years ago and their mother, who's had numerous health problems over the years, is currently in the hospital having suffered a stroke (just the small local hospital, so she's doing all right - she'd be in the city hospital if she wasn't).

This is one of the down sides of living so far from family. I won't be able to make the funeral, or visit my aunt in the hospital.

As if that's weren't enough, my husband was just asked to come in for half days for the next while (among others on the same contract). Why? The client's over budget, so they're trying to save money to make it to the end of the fiscal year and the next cash infusion by not having to pay employees. The sheer stupidity of this is mind boggling.

Dh is currently in contact with one of the several companies that have been asking to interview him lately. It's entirely possible that, in a few weeks, he'll be working somewhere else.

The client doesn't want to loose dh - they're apparently desperately trying to find ways to keep him - but loosing a half week's pay is huge for us. It's been difficult enough to recover financially from his time on medical leave, but when we start to have to wonder if we're going to make rent in a city with almost 0% housing availability, all bets are off. Especially with the rent going up again in a couple of months. This, of course, effects our apartment hunting, as we were hoping to have moved somewhere with better rent before then.

*sigh*