I had followed the typical path that most people of my generation did. I married young and, while I never had children, I was content with my life. I didn’t spend my whole life at one job (like my parent’s had) but I was fortunate to have had a few in my worklife but I did average over 8 years in each job that I held. I became a statistic in the early 2000′s when my childhood sweetheart and I divorced (after 23 years of marriage). But, I had my new life which included my job. I purchased a home in 2005 and was living the dream that I had held as a little girl (only it was just me now). I was definately aware of what was happening in the “work world” during the past few years as my sister had lost her job and had problems finding permanent work (no jobs). Then, in January I too became unemployed. I still thought that because I had transferable skills (customer service, receptionist, teller, etc.) that I would be able to find something fairly quickly so that I wouldn’t have to be on unemployment assistance for too long. My thinking changed when I started sending out resume after resume (and not even getting an interview). It all came to a head when I applied at the few temporary agency’s where I live and was told that they didn’t have anything at this time (due to the literally thousands of applicants that they had) and, that if I did happen to have skills for a particular position I would have to actually interview with the prospective employer to get the temp job. As the month’s went on I lost my house and had to declare personal bankruptcy (this was particularly hard) and had to come to the realization that I, again, was a statistic. I am a whole lot luckier than most. I was able to move in with my sister (after 30 years of not living together) in her two bedroom/ two bathroom mobile home with my dogs . I keep sending out resumes and hope against hope that something breaks.
This certainly wasn’t the life I envisioned when I was a bright eyed and bushy tailed nineteen year old starting out my work life in 1978. It certainly has been a “long and winding road” from there to here. I am still hoping for that silver lining in the dark cloud.
