A Mommy Story

…another one opens, right? And hopefully it is a bigger, better door: prettier, shinier, brighter, more comfortable, makes you happier, pays better, offers more perks.

Oh, that kind of wandered off, didn’t it?

I had planned a cutesy post about a topic that I thought was important today: men’s cologne. And I was all set to write about that until my husband called me around 4:30 pm to tell me he was coming home early today.

Because he lost his job.

Dammit.

I’d like to say this came completely out of the blue, but it didn’t. When he started working for this state agency two years ago, it was a non-political agency. With our new governor (a man who has made me question if he really is a Democrat) in place, he quickly set about putting this agency under his control, allowing him to appoint a leader of the agency.

Shortly after that, people who had worked there before this change of leadership began disappearing. Some transferred or found other jobs, others were encouraged to find employment elsewhere, and for those who remained, many were reassigned to new positions.

Aaron watched as his entire department was torn down, leaving him with the jobs of those who were no longer there, along with his own responsibilities. Despite the additional work, he received no pay raise, since our lovely governor had frozen the pay of most state employees. But at least he still had a job, so we continued on with little complaint.

More people disappeared, though, and this time new people appeared, despite a state hiring freeze. These new people held positions that had never been advertised on the state’s jobs website and collected comfortable salaries. Some didn’t even seem to know how to do parts of their job. Aaron was again given new responsibilities that didn’t suit his skill set, yet also was expected to continue with most of his previous job, too.

But today it all ended. After overloading him to the point that no single person could accomplish all of those tasks in a timely manner, and giving him a useless manager who never responded to his multiple requests to meet and discuss his responsibilities, he was told his services were no longer needed. Pack up your desk, turn in your keycard, and see you again never.

We’re not in a state of panic – yet. Probably because it’s still sinking in. The paychecks will run out in mid-July, and our health insurance is good through the end of July. Then we’ll panic for sure. We’ll have the option of Cobra after that, but there’s no way we can afford it. And last I checked, gas is $4 a gallon and the job market suuuucks.

We’ll get by somehow. We both bring in a little money from writing, and his resume is sitting on several desks already. Aaron has been unhappy with his job for several months, so the job hunt actually started back in March. Hopefully this is some kind of blessing in disguise, and the ideal job will fall into his lap as a result.

Until then, I’ll be reading Megan’s eBay column carefully to learn how to make the best auction listings, and temporarily giving up my search for a Wii Fit. I’ll also try to convince my sweet, devoted husband to not bother getting me a birthday gift this Saturday, because in this case, the thought will be good enough.

This is a big setback, financially, but it’s not the end of the world. At least he won’t be under so much stress from the toxic work environment he had to deal with. Aside from having no income at the moment, things aren’t too bad: we’re healthy, we have supportive friends and family, and we have each other. I’d say that’s still better than what many have.