Back to the salt mines....

by northstar at 10:02 AM on June 09, 2002

After two months of being unemployed/laid off/on “temporary furlough” (my status depends on who you talk to), I was offered a job this week, and I accepted the offer (Yippie!! The crowd goes wild!!!). It was a nice feeling to know that, beginning a week from tomorrow, I will once again be collecting a paycheck. It’s been a tough time emotionally, but I have to remember to keep things in perspective. There are people in this town who have been unemployed for much longer than I’ve been, and likely will be for some time to come.

For the past five years, I’ve been commuting, on average, about 70 miles per day to work and back. Now my commute will be less than 20 miles. I’ve grown to hate driving in the Houston area, so it will be nice to not have to deal with rush-hour traffic nearly as much as I previously have been forced to. Of course, I’ll be driving as part of my new job, but it will be in a company vehicle, thereby saving wear and tear on my beloved 1996 Ford F-150.

I feel as if I’ve done my time on the roads in this town. I’m looking forward to driving to work without having to get onto a freeway. Sure, I’ll have to deal with a bunch of stop lights, but it will take me 20 minutes- tops- to get to work or back. After driving an hour each way for the past five years, I’m due for relief.

I’m grateful to have the opportunity to be able to work for a good company. I have a very low threshold for boredom, and my biggest concern has always been whether or not I’d be challenged intellectually. In this case, it doesn’t appear that I’ll have to worry about that.

More than anything, though, I’m grateful to be able to feel as if I’m making a financial contribution again. For the past two months, I’ve been playing “house husband”- picking up the kid, painting, fixing toilets, etc. Those are all important things, but they don’t pay at all. I’ve watched my wife go off to work for the past 2+ months, and I’ve felt as if I’m not holding up my end of the bargain. She’s been amazing, though. While it would have been easy for her to be frustrated and angry, she has managed to look on the bright side of our situation- much more so, in fact, than I’ve been able to. I’m glad that I was finally able to reward her faith in me.

Of course, now I can tell my previous employer to kiss my ass. They avoided paying me a severance by placing me on what they so delicately referred to as a "temporary furlough". I suppose that's what I get for believing in those liars to begin with....

This week, then, is my last week as a “house husband”. I wonder how much golf a man can play in a week???