The start of 2017 was wonderful.  We had a new house.  SO and I were getting along great.  Bratty was an ocean away.  SO and I booked plane tickets for an April vacation to France where we’d celebrate my birthday in Paris.  Life was good, and 2017 was going to be a banner year for me, I thought.

The first big change in my life began a few months prior to the start of 2017, when I noticed my normally regular periods becoming quite irregular.  A visit to the doctor and some bloodwork confirmed:  I was officially in perimenopause.  And with it came a host of other lovely effects:  decreased sleep, dry skin and eyes, hot flashes, and general crankiness over minor annoyances.  Not a great way to start the year, but still it is the unavoidable march of time so I would deal with it.  I shared with SO and he was wonderfully supportive and asked me to communicate any needs I had. 

In late February, I was called to a meeting with our boss’ boss and HR in the room, which is never a good sign.  The company was moving some departments to cheaper location on the other side of the country and were terminating jobs here in California.  I was handed a blue folder that had the details of my severance package (which was generous) and was told I would be paid a retention bonus to stay through the end of the year to train my eventual replacement on the other side of the country.  I had worked at this company for 18 years, had just made a major home purchase, and was stunned.  They told me to take the rest of the day off to process and I did.  I called SO and he was shocked as well.  He said he loved me and we would figure it all out together. 

Over the next few days and weeks, I experienced a range of emotions – anger, sadness, fear but also some optimism.  I was bored in that job and started to think maybe this was life’s way of telling me to move on.  I also had a great financial cushion and received a generous severance on top of that.  But then, the anger, sadness and fear would return and the cycle would repeat.  SO asked if we should cancel our France trip and I said hell to the no, it was already pre-paid so we may as well go.  SO asked what I thought about the house and I said I have enough financial cushion to ride this out until I could find another job.  He said he would help out more if needed with money.  I said we can figure it out later because I was still shackled to the present job through the end of the year, and couldn’t really start even looking for anything else until later.

We went to France and had an amazing time.  I had never been to Paris before and it was a dream come true.  It helped take the sting out of the job loss.  We returned home from our trip and had a few quiet weeks before the return of Bratty McBratFace from her semester abroad. 

And my job was not the only change that was happening!

Bratty shaved her head prior to leaving Amsterdam.  Not just a side or portion as part of a style, I mean fully shaved her head bald, ala 2007 Britney Spears.  She said she wanted extra money and sold her hair online after shaving it (she had gorgeous, thick, long hair – and I think she said she got $800 for it!).  She also announced she doesn’t subscribe to binary gender norms anymore.  Frankly I wasn’t really sure what that meant but OK – whatever floats your boat, Bratty.  If I were the parent, I would be a little alarmed about these events but SO seemed to think that Bratty was adult enough to do as she pleased.  Translation:  SO didn’t want or know how to deal with this so opted to stick his head in the sand, per usual.

SO and I had discussed Bratty living with us that summer when she returned from her semester abroad.  I shared my concerns with SO about Bratty’s messiness.  He wanted to minimize any additional stress on me as I had already had a lot on my mind with the job loss.  We agreed that he would handle any discipline issues that came up over the course of the summer and I thought it best as well.  

In our next chapter, Bratty returns home, jet-lagged and bald-headed, to kick off the Summer of Terror 2.0.