Wednesday Open Letters

[macmars45]

Dear WP,

My H did it! He drew his hard line with the big boss, was prepared to hand in notice and instead got what he wanted! He's currently training his replacement. As of June 3rd he's leaving accounting behind and moving to another department in the same company. The cloud around him is visibly lifting and I can see the fun, silly, patient man I married reemerging. I missed him.

macmars

[twinmomma]

Yay macmars45! I'm so happy for your family!

[twinmomma]

Dear WP,
How do I phrase an event invite that basically says "This is for families, but by families we mean bring your kids, not the entire extended family tree. But if you don't have kids, it's ok to bring a niece or nephew or grandchild. But again, not everyone you've ever been related to. This is not a family reunion on the company's dime."
We're trying to plan a family night out and in the past this event has "sold out" very quickly. I'm trying to be considerate of different family dynamics but also know that if we leave it open ended, we can't have nice things and people will claim a million tickets for their entire clan and then other families will be left out.
Signed,
Way over thinking this

Dear Middle School Band,
wow, you guys actually sounded like you were playing songs last night! I'm super impressed with how much your talent has grown from last year's elementary school concert! Great job, DD2!
Signed,
Mom with grateful ears

[waverly]

twinmomma,

This is a kid friendly event; bring your immediate family, grandkids or nieces and nephews. You will receive a ticket that is good for 4 family members (maybe something like that).

[mommyatty]

Dear twinmomma,

Each employee will be entitled to up to (4-6 or whatever makes sense) tickets. If you have a need for more tickets for your household, please email Joe Smith with your request. Unfortunately extra tickets for people outside of your household cannot be granted due to space limitations.

That should allow larger families to attend while limiting the folks who think it’s a free-for-all.

Signed,
Employee Who Gets the Issue

[waverly]

Dear WP,

I have no plans on Sun/ Mon this holiday weekend, but was kind of thinking of going to the beach. The weather does not look condusive to beach time, unfortunately it is supposed to rain both days.

Any suggestions for plans? I've been wanting to relax, but I know if I spend too much time at home then I will just do chores. It's a bummer when a holiday weekend is 2/3 rain.

Signed,
Waverly

[sdlaura]

twinmomma, that's tough. Putting a number on it may not work, since the 4 family members thing wouldn't allow me to bring my immediate family

How about something like "there are a limited number of tickets available for this event. You are welcome to bring your immediate family, or if there are not children in your immediate family, feel free to bring a small number of young extended family members."

[186momx]

twinmomma, what about something like "please reserve your tickets for our annual family friendly event by X date. Any leftover tickets will be at a first come first serve basis available on Y date" This way if Joe says he needs 20 tickets you can go back and say Joe we can only give you 10 tickets and you will have to try and get the rest. We want to make sure everyone who wants to come can bring their immediate family. You probably know round about how many of your co-workers have kids.

Dear Dad
Thanks for telling me to take a bunch fo random days off in June. I know I've been a little salty this month with you taking basically the last 2 weeks off for your bathroom remodel. Not sure what I'm going to do with a random Wednesday off.
Hugs
Daughter/business partner

[mae0111]

Dear DH -

I can appreciate that you're struggling with balancing work with everything in life. I take as much as I can off your plate, I go to all the sports things when you can't, I attend all the shows/ceremonies during the day so you can work, etc.

Your oldest DD has her 8th grade graduation in 2 weeks. It's the only one she will have. It's a THING. It's 90 minutes long. You have to go.

I understand that your client needs you to testify in this case. I understand that it's the night before and a plane ride away. I do not accept that you NEED to go, and hope that your 6am flight the next morning is on time, traffic isn't horrendous, and that you can make it back by 10am.

You. Cannot. Go.

Testify virtually. I've done it. It's a thing. They swear you in and everything. Or ask them if they can move it. Either way, you need to do the right thing and put your family first. Just this once.

Wifey who will cover for you with everything else, but not this.

[twinmomma]

Dear DH,
I know that you haven't had to balance working parenthood nearly as much as me. You've been very lucky to work for yourself and be a full time stay at home dad when you have DS and then work when DS is with his mom. It's very rare that you have to work while DS is with us. So I know it feels really hard when you have a conflict and do have to work on a DS day. But I promise you, he will be just fine if you prepare him to be fine. This is not a moral failure on your part. And it's kind of offensive to me that you make it out to be SUCH a big deal, because I have never had the luxury to stay home with my kids and we're all doing just fine. If you apologize and act sad and disappointed around him, he's going to be sad and disappointed and get very upset about you not being home. Just state the fact and move on. Parents have to work. Full stop. On to the next. Otherwise you end up where we are now, with DS claiming his stomach hurts and he can't come back to our house because he's so sick. Which conveniently coincides with a day when you have to work and won't be home for bedtime at our house so he wants to stay at mom's where he still gets to sleep in her bed. Please, do something about this poor kiddo's anxiety levels about life. He needs help navigating the world.
Love,
Concerned Stepmom

[k3am]

Dear sister,

I have managed mom's finances for the last 3 years, even though I didn't have POA. I am far away, it was the least I could do. My job is in finance/lending. In December, we found out that you DH had POA for financial decisions. That's fine. It's actually a relief in a lot of ways. But if you're not clear on how to do something like payoff a non-mortgage loan? Please ask.

Signed,
Your favorite sister who wants to make your life easier.

PS: Still annoyed about BIL taking credit for everything when EVERYTHING financial related is because I set it up. He didn't spend hours/weeks/months reigning her charges in, tracking down logins and passwords, he just got to coast in after the leg work had been done.

PPS: Also annoyed that her finances have since gone into a black hole. 

[mommyatty]

Dear Son,

For God’s Sake, can we please go one freaking day without me having to talk to your teachers or go up to your school because you’re making shit choices?

Signed,
One Day Left

Dear Hubs,

I, too, want to just call it and not send him tomorrow. Glad we are on the same page.

But… You have to get on the page with me that his ADHD meds are no longer working. He grew 5 inches in the last year. He needs an increase or a new med. So stop being so fucking blasé about that.

Signed,
Exhausted

[k3am]

mommyatty , get a med check. DH was hesitant to do it based on changes in behavior and it wasn't until we noticed DD regressing a lot in a couple other areas, especially multistep instructions that he got on board. She totally broke down because I asked her to clean up the dog poop and DH asked her to put her shoes away, and she "couldn't hold that many things in her brain at once!" Turns out she'd gained an inch and 4 lbs. Stepping up her dosage has been great - the other day she handled needing to dump out a bowl of water, dog poop, shoes, AND needing to move along her laundry, and DH was shocked at what a difference it made.

I can't imagine that FIVE inches of growth and whatever weight gain went along with it wouldn't be enough to need an adjustment.

[sdlaura]

Dear school district, it makes me so sad that you didn’t renew DS1’s amazing teacher’s contract because two tenured teachers wanted to transfer to our school. His teacher is only in her third year here, but the woman has a masters in psychology in addition to her teaching degree, and is one of the best teachers my kids have had. I was hoping my next two sons could be in her class too.

Signed, this is an example of tenure really disadvantaging talented young teachers

Also, there is definitely not a teacher shortage around here. Instead, the district is letting incredible teachers go