On Monday, she got the call that they were being shut down.

On Monday she got the call that they were being shut down. Lisa could no longer haul logs to the mill
intro / beginning

The mills had closed due to the shortage in employees as well as rising fuel and material prices. So Lisa was shut down. Hauling logs wasn’t just her livelihood but it was something that she genuinely enjoyed doing. Lisa was crushed. She had been well accustomed to the long hard days of hauling logs to Oak Hill Milling company. But to add fuel to the fire, her competition was given the ok to keep moving logs to the mill, because certain loads were still accepted for inventory. Leaving Lisa shut down.

This news crushed Lisa. She had been working too hard and too long to have to deal with being out of a job. But until she heard anything different she couldn’t do a thing. So instead of being a bump on a log Lisa made the best of her situation and the time that she had by doing needed maintenance. This was something that she normally wouldn’t have enough time to take care of so she took care of everything she could. Cleaned her truck, greased all the connection points, and waited, but before she knew it, she was already out of things to keep her occupied. Yet she still couldn’t get her mind off the fact that her competition was the one who was able to continue working, and NOT HER! But one positive was that she had her dog Leo, a yellow lab. Leo stayed next to Lisa throughout this rough time and helped distract her in the best way possible.

For hours, every noise that came from her phone Lisa leaped in joy with belief that it could be the call. But nothing. After hours of suspense, Lisa got the call. She had been reinstated and could return to her typical daily habits of hauling logs. But there was a catch, they hadn’t just given her a day off. But during this day off The Oak Hill Milling company had come up with a plan to award Lisa with a paid day off followed by a covered vacation of her choice and the best part was that she could take her dog Leo. This was the milling company’s way of showing appreciation and to recognize her for her work and dedication to her job. Lisa was ecstatic. Just minutes beforehand she had been doing nothing at her house with the dog just wondering, when will I have to work again? They noted that she had shown resilience and constant hard work for up to 10 years and that she had reached platinum employee status and that they were extremely thankful for her service.

With this, Lisa knew she had a secure job for the future and could now allow herself to relax and focus on THIS VACATION!!! Now she had to decide where to go; without skipping a beat, she knew where she wanted to go. She had wanted to visit Aruba for many years and years but could never put the time together to go on vacation. With the time she had wrapped up in maintenance and hauling logs, she had zero time. But now with the opportunity, why not bring Leo?

For the first time since her layoff from the milling company, she wasn’t focused on the mill or her next load of logs, but she was now thinking about warm weather, a break from her job, and time with her puppy dog Leo.