Fare Thee Well

This past weekend we had a Fare Thee Well party for my cousin G. This is him, with grandma. It occurred to me that I’ve wished rather a lot of people in my family and work life fare thee well over the past year.

I’ve had one uncle and one uncle-and-aunt-combo leave Michigan – for Ohio and for Florida (my other two uncles left Michigan long ago). Two other cousins left for Florida and Chicago in the past two years.

Cousin G. is leaving to take work in North Carolina – where the benefits of the weather have to be balanced against the fact that most of the buildings on the campus he’s headed to are named after traitors from the War of Southern Treason. He took along with him a solid gift certificate to Outback and a quart of the best chocolate milk this side of the Rockies

In addition, I’ve known three colleagues in the library world leave Michigan in the past year. None for “not liking” Michigan, but because there weren’t any jobs here.

It’s rather a sad time. We’re having real trouble keeping talent, and even more attracting it. I hadn’t noticed until now just what a down-turn Michigan is in, instead the incremental problems just crept in and were accepted. We’re in big trouble. And Granholm and Co. are preparing to cut the state budget even further. This might be a good time to mention Hubby and I are state employees.