A Balancing Act

I posted just this morning about how I have finally found peace. I seem to be the only one...

Poor Greg. He is beating his head against a wall down here. He can't work efficiently. He tries and he tries, but things are staked against him. Keep in mind that he is currently doing the same job that he did before we arrived here plus hiring and training new guys over the phone. Add to that the additional responsibilities here and the man is a little overloaded.

He's also had to carry an additional emotional and physical burden caring for me and the kids while we are adjusting to life here. He's done beautifully. But just as I am getting my feet under me, he is hitting his breaking point.

First he can't get hardwired into the internet at work. Something about security. So he has to work off of the horrible wi-fi. Our connection at home stinks, and it's a bazillion times better than the one he deals with at work. So he often works off of his iPhone during the day when the system won't connect which isn't fun and slow moving, and then does his 'real' work when he gets home.

Then about 2 weeks after arriving here, his laptop crashed completely. Luckily he had backed it up recently. So a new one was sent from the IT guys in the US via a US employee who was meeting with a Chilean employee in Bolivia - who brought it to Greg.

This new computer doesn't seem to like any excel email attachments. Greg works almost entirely from excel and email is critical to his business. The IT guys down here are not very helpful, and trying to get with the IT guy over the phone in the US requires working over a telephone line ran through the internet - which again isn't very good.

Needless to say, he's losing his flippin' mind.

He was still up working last night at midnight, I'm not sure when he went to bed. This morning he was up by 5am. The driver came early so he felt rushed to get out of the house and to the airport. He grabbed a yogurt for breakfast and dropped it on the floor. It, of course, broke open spewing yogurt all over him and the inside of the fridge.

What can I do? I can clean up the yogurt. I can hug him tight and tell him that I love him. I can tell him that I'm not worried one bit about being here alone over the next few days. I can tell him that I'm doing great. He worries about the kids and I. He is constantly aware of how we're feeling and how we are handling things. It just adds to the already piled on stress.

Today he took a plane from Santiago to Iquique, then to Arica, then La Paz then sat at the airport in Cochabamba for three hours before heading to his final destination in Brazil and then driving a distance to the hotel. He'll be at the mine tomorrow and then replay this whole travel craziness again to get home Thursday.

I am grateful for blessings in the midst of turmoil. I am grateful that while I was breaking down, he was at peace and now that he's at his breaking point, I am at peace. It allows us to pull each other through the rough patches.