Amy Giampetroni is a happily married woman, a full-time stay-at-home mom to a preschool boy and a part-time stepmom to an adolescent girl, living in Wisconsin. You can read more about Amy here and at her blog, Average Everyday Super Woman. Click here to check out Amy’s other posts on This Mommy Gig.

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays, and as usual, I had all sorts of fun things planned for the week:  A trip to Ashland to visit my dad and stepmom with my son; spending the day at our community 4th of July parade and then heading to a friend’s house for an “after-party”; watching fireworks with my family…   All good, normal, everyday kinds of things, right?   Well.

On Monday, I drove 7 hours north to Ashland with no major mishaps.  The weather was beautiful, Angelo was a good little traveler, and traffic was great being that it was a weekday afternoon.  There was just one tiny little problem:  Starting in the late afternoon, I couldn’t reach my husband when I was trying to call him to let him know where we were in our travels, and he KNOWS from experience that I like being able to reach him when I’m traveling without him in case anything happens.  With each trip into his voicemail I was growing more concerned, and then more frustrated.  By the time I got to my dad’s at 8pm, I was flipping out.  

I had no sooner sat down on the couch to visit with my parents when their phone rang.  It was my husband.  When I asked why he hadn’t been answering his phone, his answer knocked me right off my feet:  ”Honey, I was the latest one to be ‘downsized’ today.”

WHAT?!?

I thought he was kidding, trying to get out of me being ticked that I couldn’t reach him for the past four hours.  I even asked him if he was joking.  His answer?  ”‘Fraid not.”

I felt instantly sick to my stomach as a hard knot of panic settled into my gut.  This cannot be happening, I thought.  I’m a stay-at-home mom; I’m not working.  Now he’s not working.  What are we going to do?!?

I was speechless as he filled me in on the gory details of his afternoon.  I could hear the shock in his voice as I stood there, 375 miles away from him, and I just wanted to hop back into the van and drive straight back home.  

We had a good conversation - I only cried once! (miraculous) - and in the end we both resolved that this is NOT the end of the world and we weren’t going to waste our time panicking or freaking out over it.  We’re obviously concerned, but we’re not desperate: We have enough resources to get us through several months so he can really focus on his next move, and we’ve both got great professional networks, not to mention wonderful and resourceful family members and friends.  Yes, it’s scary to think that the money can and will eventually dry up and COBRA only lasts so long, but we both feel confident that this is simply an opportunity for the next door to open and lead us somewhere better.  Thankfully we’ve lived and learned enough to put this into perspective.  

I offered to come home the next day, but Dan said he was doing fine and wanted me to stay put and enjoy my time with my dad.  I had my doubts at first, and had a hard time sleeping that first night, but when he and I spoke the next day, he sounded so good, rejuvenated and positive that I realized he was right: No sense in my cutting my trip short and heading home early when he was rolling with it and getting a good jump on his job search without us underfoot.  As it turned out, he had gotten so many phone calls and emails from friends, coworkers and business contacts since sending out an email to everyone to let them know that he was no longer with his company that he had PLENTY of follow-up and networking to keep him busy.  

In just three short days, the man has received several solid leads on new positions, and we have countless friends putting out feelers elsewhere, so there’s every reason to believe that something will come through sooner rather than later.  He’s a great guy with tons of talent, experience and knowledge, and that hasn’t gone unnoticed in his career or elsewhere in his life.  It’s nice to know that so many people have reached out to offer their help in the circumstances, especially since the job market isn’t what it was even a few years ago.  

Downsizing stinks, no question about it.  But I think it’s entirely true that - while difficult and stressful at the time - it usually leads you to something bigger and better.  We both believe that we’ll look back on this in a year and laugh about it.  What else can you do?  

Onward and upward!

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Tags: employment