Husband Clothes

My husband and I have both been unemployed for two whole months! And I am here to say that our family is very, very, very, (I could repeat the word “very” 100 more times) lucky.

First, the unemployment began right when our third child was born. Oh! Ha ha! I just realized that this sounded ironic, though it wasn’t meant to…Why would I be happy that my husband and I are unemployed right when we have our third child??? Well, several reasons:

1. One could say that I haven’t seen my husband for an entire year due to his employment (before August, when he became unemployed). He was working on movie after movie after movie, and therefore, he was never home. Mind you, I don’t complain about his work hours due to years of unemployment a while back–I’m always thankful employment, always have been, it’s just the way I am…Nevertheless, this 2-month bout of unemployment=God send for my family.
2. I haven’t spent nearly enough time with my children during 2008 and for a few years before that. Why? Because of my employment. I do work hard to balance work and family, and sometimes I do a great job! But sometimes I do a lousy job, and family is far too important for that. So, occasional unemployment is a perfect cure! Thank goodness I had 2 months to think this through thoroughly:)
3. My husband and I had savings (though shamefully small) to fall back on. Not a ton, but enough. Remember, half of our marriage, we had employment issues (okay, he did, not me, and by “issues” I mean he had no job) BUT…the other half we have moved a thousand times and stuff=costly. So, it was hard to build savings. But we deprived ourselves of many nice things and we built one. And now we have spent it. HAHAHHHA. So amusing. Oh, but main point: We had it when we needed it.
4. My husband and I are officially employed as of Monday. Back to normal for us–on a holiday nonetheless. After a 2-month holiday, I won’t complain. But many people are not so lucky. This is disturbing me a great deal, and I keep trying to think of ways to help. I may have one or two ways to help on a small scale–but they may not help very much…We shall see.

So, I’m in one of my occasional (alright, almost non-existent) deep moods. In a way, our country, and apparently the entire world, is lucky to be experiencing this recession. We’ll learn to spend time with our families, help each other more, and once again after a few decades, college grads will be grateful for, not scornful about, their first jobs. People will be thankful for their possessions and not constantly trying to upgrade, outdo, redo, and purchase anew…

So, on one hand, I’m really thankful. Unfortunately, I keep coming back to this–ya know, some children are going to have a hard time getting a meal because their parents can’t find work. This thought is very difficult to cope with. It’s making me really sad. It also brings me back to the time when my husband has as much luck getting a job in the US as I’d have had at…say, landing Arabic jobs. (I don’t know Arabic, and he didn’t know English). Jobless times are hard times. I just want everyone to be okay!

Filed under: Children, Jobs & Unemployment, Uncategorized, Work