This too shall pass

I'm worried.

Mona came home tonight and told me that a director at her company came in to meet with her managers and some HR people today.

The managers have been a little withdrawn since the meetings. Mona thinks she may lose her job and I'm concerned she's right. Her group is the best performing group in the country, but also the most expensive. They could move her job down south and cut their costs by 30%.

I expect that's what will happen, but I really, really hope I'm wrong.

But it's got me concerned.

Ultimately I think we'll be OK. We can make most of our payments from unemployment and I can use some of that scholarship money for expenses instead of tuition. If my brother keeps his job she can work as a nanny for his soon to arrive baby. With even a few hundred a month that should be enough to get us by.

Mona and I talked a little about the cuts that we'll have to make. Goodbye cable, netflix and cell phones and internet. No eating out. Ever. Lots of beans and rice and peanut butter and jelly. Movies will have to come from the public library (whoever invented libraries ought to be canonized. Seriously, that has to be the single greatest contribution to humanity that has ever been made).

I don't imagine we'll have the AC on much this summer if the worst happens.

I know that we can make it. I know that a lot of people are a heck of a lot worse off than we are. I know that tough times don't last forever. I know the good old day's weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems.

We're in a recession, but no matter what the media says, it's nothing like the Great Depression. We're just in a big readjustment.

No matter what happens, even if we hit rock bottom, I know my family and Mona's family will always be willing to provide food and shelter.

I think the worst is just the uncertainty of it all.

If I could just absolutely guarantee that I'm going to make it through this nursing program I'd feel much better. I know there is light at the end of the tunnel, and I know it's not a train. I just don't know if I will make it to the end or if I'll have to turn back and find another route.

There's no reason I shouldn't make it. I have the intelligence and the ability. Really the only thing that can really stop me is misfortune (I hope).

And to tell the truth, I have always felt lucky. Oh, I'm not lotto winner lucky, but I do think I have a fair amount of luck. Or divine assistance. Or both, and I mean it sincerely.

Whenever the proverbial stormclouds gather I seem to find a proverbial umbrella. I don't know why, but it seems to usually happen.

If it is divine intervention I am grateful and appreciative. I try and remember that when things are good too, and I like to take some time to simply say thank you for everything in my life that's good. And I try and do that same thing when things get tough.

Part of me wants to believe that my mother is somewhere looking out for me, or interceding on my behalf. I know that if she has that opportunity she's not letting it pass by. I hope I'm right about that and that Mom is happy and well wherever she is.

If the worst part about this whole thing is lost sleep and a few sacrifices, I'll count myself lucky. And I hope that no one else, anywhere, has it worse than that (even though I know they do).

We will all be OK. Every one of us. We're all in this together, and we'll all get through it together.

The best part will be telling our grandkids about how tough it was back around the turn of the century and how we had to tighten our belts, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, dust our selves off, and plow ahead.

Good luck to us all.