Time for a Road Trip!

In late September of 2008, I, like many others, fell victim to corporate downsizing and restructuring. I was given notification that my position would be gone in 6 weeks, at which time I would be “released from employment” with a fair severance package and glowing references.

I never saw it coming. I was totally blindsided. While I was fully aware of the news around me, knew that jobs were being lost by the bucketful, knew the economy was tanking, somehow, I never really believed that any of it would affect me personally. I thought I was “

safe”.

I was devastated. I was terrified. And yet, I think it was that loss of safety that hit me the hardest, that hurt the most, and had the biggest impact on my next decision.

I decided to move. I wanted to be near my family, even if my familial relationships were less than ideal at the time. Have you heard it said that “Home is where, when you go there, they have to let you in”? I took that phrase to heart and at the end of my 6 week internment, I packed my belongs and my beloved cat and headed South.

Three years later, I was still unemployed and growing frantic. My severance package and unemployment benefits had run out long ago. My savings were dwindling dangerously and the improved relationships with my family felt as though they were under siege. It was time I faced the frightening truth. I was never again going to work in my previously chosen, and much loved, occupation. I would have to find something new. I would have to start all over.

So I did-I started over. I chose a recession-proof field, I went back to school and I earned a shiny new Certification. Then I got a job and plunged headlong into a new career. It was 2012.

As it turns out, I absolutely loved my newly chosen profession. I was promoted and then promoted again and again. I had an office with a window and an assistant. My commute was all of 20 minutes long (with traffic) and I had a full benefit package of health insurance, dental, eye, 401K and a match, and, believe it or not, I even had pet insurance. On my fifth work anniversary I earned an additional week of vacation, bringing my total to four weeks paid time off. Daily, I wondered how I had ever gotten so lucky.

In late September of 2019, I, like the others in my department, fell victim to a Company Restructure. I was given notification that my position would be gone in 6 weeks, at which time I would be “released from employment” with a fair severance package and glowing references.

Wigglez-pack your toys! We are going on a road trip!