August '25

“But I can see us lost in the memory August slipped away into a moment in time...”

— Taylor Swift, August from "folklore"

As the start of summer, Justin was laid off from his job. Now to be 100% clear, while naturally this news came as upsetting and disappointing, we hold no ill will towards his previous firm. An uncertain economy with disrupted supply chains, Trump tariffs and a federal election threw a grenade into an industry and tough choices had to be made. It’s business, it’s not personal and it happens. My husband spoke fondly of his bosses and co-workers and I love to see women-owned business in typically male dominated fields! This company was compassionate and generous and for that I’ll be forever thankful and we wish the team well. It happens to the best of us.

Now with that out of the way, I wanted to say I admired the tenacity my husband had to find a new job and the way he was truly present with us during that precarious time. He made sure our kids felt solid and he was my rock just like I tried to his. The sight of our kids bowing their heads in prayer and earnestly praying for their dad is forever etched in my mind. In addition to our faith, our family and friends were supportive and God opened an amazing door! In some ways, I think it’s a better opportunity and fit that wouldn’t have happened had a door been closed for us.

It was also lovely for my husband to have paid extended time off! We made memories, he played lots of golf and this summer will be one that was both hard yet rewarding.

I started this little post quoting Taylor Swift and I will end this post the same way. Life has many challenges, but let’s not add to it by obsessing over whether we are being “too much” or worrying about what others think. People’s opinions of us aren’t our business. Letting people be wrong about us is a powerful move. Frankly, it’s usually not a reflection of us and honestly it’s fan behaviour. As she so eloquently put it when she gave the commencement speech at NYU ‘22,

“No matter how hard you try to avoid being cringe, you will look back on your life and cringe retrospectively. Cringe is unavoidable over a lifetime. Even the term cringe might someday be deemed cringe.” - Taylor Swift

So embrace your inner weirdo and be your cringey-ass self you lovable little freak!