The end of it all

Clara and Margaret are both interested in the newspaper. They ask for parts of it if I am home during breakfast and they pretend to be reading it. Heck, maybe they are reading it for all I know1 When we walk to Earthfare, they pick up the free weekly newspapers that are available, Flagpole and a Vegetarian publication of some sort.
So it pains me to realize there will probably be no print newspapers by the time they are able to read and comprehend the information. Thanks to a drumbeat by Hate Radio berating the "liberal press" for decades, plus arrogance on the part of some larger papers, plus the explosion of the Internet, the once-sure foundation of newspapers across the country has been rocked. Even a big, regional paper like the Atlanta Constitution is reeling.
A friend came over today from Atlanta, a colleague, who told me there's going to be an announcement this coming week about voluntary separations. A nice term for layoffs with benefits. The company is supposedly offering two weeks pay for every year of service, but if you aren't 55, you don't get to take the health care coverage with you. So I don't qualify for porting the healthcare. Should I take the money and hope, in the meantime, to find a job that comes with healthcare? Or should I turn it down, hoping to make it to 55 so i can get the healthcare forever, and then face what might be sn involuntary separation, a nice term for being laid off, with no benefits?
I don't know. We don't know who is going to offered this deal, if there is going to be any deal, how many people they are wanting to be shed of, if this is going to happen again next year, or what. So much is uncertain.
Long ago, I realized there's not much I can do about forces outside of my control, so I have tried not to waste my time worrying. Clara and Margaret are fine, healthy and happy, and I am happy, even when looking, possibly, at the end of a job I have loved and enjoyed for years. At least I got to work at a regional newspaper when it was great, and to make a difference in improving the lives of thousands of people, if only by making them laugh or cry over their morning coffee.
Stay tuned. Will let you know what happens.