Tomorrow will be the first Monday morning in 9 years that I am without a job. Very odd indeed. I am obviously not alone in this economy and by far, I am not the worst off of people who have lost their jobs. I can teach part time, I can do freelance writing and editing, my husband is working and we still have our health insurance through him. We do need my income; I can't think of any middle- or working-class family that doesn't need two incomes these days (sad; I remember my parents were able to raise me on one income and my mom could do lots of volunteering at my school and working in politics, etc.). And I will have to figure out how to replace a fairly decent income in a not very decent economy. But there is also a kind of exhilaration: I can go back to teaching, I can start a new career, I can do more of what I want to do, there are new paths opening up to me.
Maybe it's crazy but when something like this happens, it does force you to be creative. And I am lucky enough that I don't have to take the first job that comes along or do something like flip burgers so I can avoid being homeless. That is a blessing that other people do not have in this economy. My desire would be that all people have this chance: if they are fired or laid off, they can have that second chance (or third or fourth) at doing something they love and not being scared that they will lose their homes or won't be able to feed themselves or their children.
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