The End of the Line

I haven't posted in a long, long time. In the past few months, my little baby has grown from a tiny infant to a toddler who has boundless energy and changing needs. She is currently at 16 months, walks, talks, runs, and is constantly exploring whatever she seems to want to explore, whether we want her there or not.

In non-baby care time, I've had to choose between blog posting, writing, or performing house chores. In the end, blog posting got put way down the list, especially since, let's face it, this blog's been a dud. I've gotten virtually no feedback on it, and it didn't grow the way I had envisioned it. In fact, I've been thinking about just deleting the thing and forgetting it.

I've been unemployed for seventeen months now. Seems like a long time, but I knew someday I would have to find a job. I really hoped my unemployment would continue coming through July and into August--as it was supposed to--but Congress recently decided that all those lazy unemployed Americans needed to get off their widening butts and find themselves a job. (Isn't that what they said? I think it was, I could be exaggerating a little.) Unemployment extensions thus were ended, cutting off the meager income to millions of people just like me, many of whom are far worse off.

My last check was two weeks ago. Luckily I've been able to sell a few things in the house that will allow us to keep going for maybe three more weeks, then we dip into our savings until it's gone.

Obviously, I can't allow us to deplete our savings account, so I am actively searching for a job. Well, just as actively as I have been searching for the past seventeen months! I have resumes out right now for jobs I would be perfectly suited for, but the phone never rings. I just can't afford to be as picky as I used to regarding temporary versus full-time work, or how much I'd like to make. Or what part of town the job is located in. Or what kind of work it actually is.

I do know this, though. Whatever I earn has to include the new cost of day care for Little One.

I've really enjoyed the time I've been able to spend with her. It's uncommon for a parent to be able to stay home and raise the baby while the spouse works, in today's economy, anyway. It was never my first choice, but doing so allowed me to watch her grow up, get a lot of work done around the house, and do some serious writing. I'm really going to miss the experience. It's time for daycare.

I checked around. The most affordable and closest daycare that we both like is $145 a week, which isn't so bad compared to others I've heard about. We can afford $145 a week as long as my new job pays at least four dollars more per hour than I was making in unemployment. Not easy to find, right? Well, I'm working on it.

But what if I can't find something? What if I get a job at Krogers that pays minimum wage? That means she still goes into daycare, and our savings account will start going down every week, just not as fast. Before long, there will be no money left.

So, I'm looking. And looking and looking and looking.

And so are millions of others just like me, all vying for the same jobs.

Thanks, President Obama! Glad I voted for you, and not that other guy.