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You know how they say, “When it rains, it pours”? They’re right. Whoever they are.
2015 was a rough year for us. From little things like the dishwasher breaking (and doing dishes by hand for 6 months) to bigger things like our car being stolen out of our driveway. But by far the hardest was my husband losing his job.
Now, the details aren’t important, but I will say it wasn’t fair and it was for the best. Somehow that seems to be a theme.
It wasn’t fair, and it was for the best.
It was a Friday afternoon. I remember well how I was feeling motivated and cleaning the pantry while our 11 month old had a snack in his high chair. My husband wasn’t supposed to be off work for at least another hour, so when his name showed up on my caller ID, I was worried. He told me he was on his way home and had lost his job.
It was actually nice to have him home that afternoon. It was upsetting that he was out of work, but he’d always been so confident. He had a lot of skills, and I wasn’t too worried about him finding another job. Not to mention the fact that I’d been on the job hunt for him for months. He needed something new, and I needed him to make a little more so I could quit my hated part-time job.
The first few days were full of sleeping in and enjoying time together. We prepared for our son’s first birthday. We still went on the trip we had planned for the end of the month. I felt a little uneasiness in the pit of my stomach the whole time, but somehow I knew it would all work out.
At the time I still had a part-time work-from-home job. I’d been working four hours a day since our son was 5.5 weeks old. Luckily we were backed up and it was no problem for me to take on some more work. I shot for six hours a day. Looking back I should have done more, but it is SO hard to work from home. At least for me.
It took about seven weeks for my husband to find his job, and that wasn’t for lack of trying. He had a few calls and a few interviews. Nothing seemed to work out.
But let me tell you a few stories…
- My husband went to the LDS employment services place and ended up talking to a guy there. He was new in town and didn’t know many people and was getting baptized the next week. He ended up asking my husband to baptize him! Even though we made no progress on the employment side of things, the timing was perfect for what needed to happen.
- Word of my husband’s job loss made its way around, and we were asked to visit with our bishop. I remember clearly watching our son stumble around the hallway in his footie jammies while we waited that evening. Our bishop was awesome and asked how we were doing. He offered to get us help with food and utilities. We declined because we had savings and I was working extra. We would be fine. He said the best people to help are those who do everything they can to take care of themselves. I felt guilty accepting help but recognized that we were doing everything we could in our situation. Everyone needs a little help sometimes.
- I was humbled. We were managing, but we did accept help in the form of essential groceries. I had a really hard time going to get our groceries. I felt so uncomfortable and was so sure I would be judged. I never thought that would be me. It’s given me a different perspective and helped keep me in check when I start to judge other people.
- Because my husband was home most of the day (when he wasn’t physically out trying to get a job), he was able to spend a lot of time with us. He got a lot of one-on-one time with our son while I tried to get as many hours of work in. The weather was perfect, and we made a lot of memories.
- My husband applied for SO many jobs. Jobs he could probably do. Jobs he might want to try. Jobs he would have hated but would pay the bills. And jobs he was not qualified for. He got a call one day when he was in the garage. He did an interview over the phone, got the job, and came inside to tell me. I was surprised and confused because it happened so fast. Then he told me he would work 14 days straight for 13 hours a day and then get 7 days off. That took a while for me to process!
- Not only did my husband score an amazing job that was perfect for him and his interests, but he would also make more money than he had been making. Enough for me to quit my job and focus on our son. (Quitting my job was a whole other story!)
My husband losing his job was the kick start we needed. He found a job he has been much happier with for the last four years. I got to quit the job that had been a major source of frustration for months. I learned a lot from the experience, but hope to never have to repeat it!
Have you experienced the loss of a job? Were there any positives that came from it?
