My first real blog... Makes me think of a diary except everyone in the world will have a chance to look into my soul. I guess time will tell of how much I let you look. After all, it's me who ultimately lets you in.
There are many things that have led me to blog, but the final touch was being laid off and a fellow comrade who found himself in the same situation I have. So Bob, here we go.
My life has been pretty simple... I'd say average even. I got married at 16 (which I know is not so average). Believe it or not... I wasn't pregnant. Just a defiant teen who was in love. My parents, through their misguided love, thought that if they kept me away from my "love" I would give up and move on. Yeah, I hear you all chuckling. At least the teens that are reading this and the ones that have been there and done that. :) So that's a start to my life.
We married... He was 19 and me 16. No jobs between us. He had just been laid off from his job, but I knew love would carry us through. I got a job at Hardee's which paid the rent and I got to bring food home that was left over at the days end. It fed us along with food my grandfather gave us when he closed his country store in Alabama. Now if anyone is familiar with country stores, you know it's just a little roadside stop that sold a few cans of corn, moon pies, chips and soda. Remembering back... I'm sure it's what kept us from going hungry.
Let's fast forward to when the loves of my life came along.. My daughters and son. We planned the pregnancy because by this time hubby had what we thought was a great job at the "Big Yellow". A job there meant you were set for life. My dad raised me working there and took very good care of my mother so hubby and I knew it was time to start our own family. As fate would have it, hubby was laid off shortly after our twin girls were born. Blah blah blah... we did what we had to to make ends meet. He worked fast food and I worked as a desk clerk. We made it through. He got a job managing a video store and then our son was born. We were pretty proud.... The only twins born in the family for three generations and the only boy in 25 years.
Hubby and I both worked our butts off to provide for our children. We met with many obstacles along the way, but we persevered. You may learn about that point in my life later on, but for now it's going to be tucked away because I'm anxious to get to where I am now.
I'm "NoJobTara". For some reason that seems to define who I am to ME. Yes, I know I am a mom and also a grandma (tell you about that later).
I worked at different jobs throughout my life, but I finally found one that seemed to fit me. I worked at that job for almost 10 years. I thought I would retire there. No retirement benefits, but a good 401K. Through circumstances out of my control, I'm now unemployed. Laid off... The "economic downturn" has affected me and my family. I gave my everything to that "job". Worked many hours and was gone from home a lot. I was trying to make my place in that company as well as bring satisfaction to myself.
I spent the first week of unemployment trying to understand why it happened to me. I slept a lot. Depressed I'm sure. Then I went into speed mode cleaning and rearranging things I had been wanting to do. My son said "I can tell you're bored". Now three weeks into it and applying for many jobs, fear is beginning to set in.
