The Ax

Yes, it came yesterday — as we knew it eventually would. Now we can stop dreading the possibility and start dealing with the reality.

And what better way to begin a job search than with a little unemployment humor.

All kidding aside, we trod this road before. Twice, in fact. My husband is — thankfully — a worst-case-scenario financial planner. Layoffs, schmayoffs. He plans for Chernobyl. We have an emergency fund. We can pay our bills. He’s done everything humanly possible to make sure we stay afloat until he can find another job.

“But, but, but —” says that nagging little voice, “What if he can’t find another job?”

Could happen. It’s a tough market out there.

When the first layoff came in 2001, it was totally out the blue. He’d had the job less than a year. We’d moved here — against my preference —just so he could take that job, for pity’s sake. We’d just bought a new car. We were three days from closing on our first house. P-A-N-I-C.

And God worked it out.

The second layoff was a little easier because we saw it coming. Uncomfortable, but still familiar territory. And if I learned a darn thing either time, it was: God is faithful.

Granted, when those layoffs came I was still employed and we had no children. In this third layoff, our circumstances have changed. God hasn’t.

I should probably be freaking out. But I just can’t work myself into it.  Whatever the outcome,  “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”

This might be a temporary phase. Maybe I can only stay philosophical until I’m faced with… showering in the neighbor’s sprinklers, for example. Fair enough and time will tell.

For now, I have laundry to do.

UPDATE: He’s back in the saddle again. And it only took 3 months…