Still Employed

Well folks, it looks like I've made it through the month of January without losing my job.  Good job me!

On the one hand, that doesn't seem like such an accomplishment.  Nearly every person who reads this (and is employed) will be able to say the same thing.  On the other hand, I couldn't say the same thing last year.  Yes, we just passed the one year anniversary of me getting laid off.  I think it was the 29th of last year.

It's been an interesting year.  When I went to work on that fateful day, I was generally aware that there would be layoffs any day, and that day was particularly likely.  From the information that had been announced, I probably had something like an 8% chance of being laid off, but, for various business reasons, I rationalized that number down considerably, to somewhere under 5%.  (I was mostly right about that; as far as I know, less than 5% of the people in my group were let go.)  Of course, calculating things correctly isn't much fun when you find yourself on the wrong side of that 5% line.  So, I find myself returning home with bad news at about 9:30 that morning.  Sad day.

It's had some lasting effects.  A month or two ago Shannon was at home and had the garage door remote in her pocket, left there from when she went to check the mail, or go to the bus stop.  She managed to accidentally bump it and the door started opening.  Her first instinct was that it was me returning home from work unexpectedly as a result of getting laid off again.  I've had to promise that if I do get laid off again, I'll go see movies all day and come home at a regular time, at least.  If I do come home early for some reason, I make sure and call or text to let her know that all is well.

The lasting effects aren't all bad.  While it takes a long time to train little kids to do anything, once you've got them trained, they stick with it pretty well.  We've managed to get the girls to stop praying for me to get a new job, so now they are thankful for my job on a very regular basis.

We've also been humbled financially (once again).  Sure, it's stress inducing when your bank account is headed the wrong way, but at the same time, it's nice to be reminded of the true differences between wants and needs.  (For those scoring at home, DVDs from Netflix are a want, but Netflix streaming is still a need.)  Even at our most poor, we still have a lot of stuff.

So, I'm grateful that we're here in Illinois.  And I'm more grateful today than I was a year ago that I can go to work, get messy and come home tired.  (And hungry.  I'm always hungry.  Why?)