Anniversaries.
They are usually associated with happy moments. Birthdays. Wedding days. Notable celebrations and milestones.
But (don't you hate that word, "but"?), they can also mark days that aren't such a reason to celebrate. Deaths. Injuries. Tax day. Or, as in our particular case, job loss.
Yes. Can you believe it? It has been a full year since Jim was downsized from his job. This fact, I find surreal. That he has been out of work for such a long stretch of time, with no real end in sight.
March 14th is our un-anniversary.
I knew that things were not going so well in the economy in general, and even in Jim's company. Somehow, I thought we were immune to the financial shifting and groaning. Safe from the global economic craziness. What a laugh! We were one of the first wave of people thrown under the bus.
I now know I was naive. It's not like we hadn't felt the pinch before this. In fact, our arms were already black and blue with pinch marks. We had been drawn to opportunities here in Chicago that promised Better Bonuses! A Better Life! More Success! In reality, the bonuses failed to materialize, and all we ended up with were tighter purse strings, greater stress levels and higher credit card bills.
2008 was not our best year. It was like God was testing us every step of the way to see what we could take. To see what we were made of. It was a pretty tough year for all of the family. Are you ready for our litany of woes?
It kicked of right before the start of the new year with Jonah breaking the absolute HECK out of his arm and elbow, requiring surgery and a hospital stay. When little Lucas was born, he spent spent a few days in the NICU, otherwise known as the "expensive care unit :-)".
Once we got our newest family member home, I had a true struggle with a case of PPD. Not so much fun! I descended into a fog that affected everyone in the family. Who knew that I'd get my first case of PPD after bambino #4! Go figure.
Then the flu hit. First me, and then Jim. And how did it hit Jim!!!! The poor guy was in bed forever, and man did he feel bad. Now this is not newsworthy in and of itself, but when the flu runs a guys down so much he ends up fighting a case of MRSA in the hospital - then it becomes news!
And for all you socialized medicine loving Canadians out there, if you have ben counting, that is FOUR hospital stays in as many months....yes, major buckaroonies, baby.
So, Jim fights the MRSA, gets out of the hospital (red as a lobster, mind you becasue he was allergic to some of the antibiotics they gave him), having narrowly escaped death by streptococcus. he goes back to work the next day, and yes. this is the day it happens.
Fresh out of the hospital.
Looking like a lobster and feeling like $*%#.
This is the day he gets laid off.
Talk about kicking you when you are down!!!
So. We've covered the injuries. We've covered the depression. We've covered the hospital stays, illnesses and what all. Now we're covering the big one - job loss.
At first we recovered from the initial shock pretty well, figuring it couldn't be too long before someone with Jim's qualifications got snatched right up. We had 3 months severance, we were fine!
Fast forward to a full year and many other nasty bumps in the road later. Still no job.
So yes, 2008 pretty much sucked eggs.
However, 2008 was also a lot of other things. You know all the cliches. You can't make lemonade with out lemons. It takes pressure to make diamonds. All that crap.
Well, it just so happens that some of that stuff is true.
I learned how to be a real tough cookie this year. I now have more cojones than I ever thought possible. I have confidence that I can take care of business on my own, whatever that business may be.
2008 was also the year of Lucas.
It was the year Samuel learned to read.
It was the year Jonah decided that he wanted to be a rock star.
It was the year that Georgia announced that her hair was not red, it was pink.
It was the year of Summer Zephyr.
It was the year that I found out how many friends really do care about me.
It was the year of Merrifield Photography!
It was also the year that Jim realized how important family really is.
So - would I change the past year? Would I exchange everything that happened, both good and bad, if we could go back to mid-March '08 and not be a victim of downsizing?
In all honesty, probably not. Although I do wish this was over, that we had our financial security in place, probably not.
I learned things about myself this year that you can only learn in a trial by fire.
There are no rainbows without the rain. (sorry about the fromage, mes amis)
So please keep us in your prayers over the coming months. Please pray that we find our security and that our lives can move on in a more carefree fashion.
After all, I don't want to get any tougher !!!!!:-)