Friday, October 15, 2010

J-O-B!!

So. This has been one hell of a week. I don't know how to write this without sounding like some sort of bullshit motivational poster, so cue the vaguely inspirational music, and here we go anyway.

Loooong story short, I graduated from a relatively prestigious (read: expensive) school with a relatively prestigious (read: imminently useless) degree last May. Said degree had been chosen because of its boundless future employment potential. Tears, breakdowns, loans, and a LOT of spreadsheets later, I graduated. In the midst of the goddamn recession. With a LOT of debt. And a mortgage. And a stupid medical issue. I did have a job, which I truly love, but it pays diddly squat, and still leaves me substantially in what my student loan officer likes to call "a very negative debt to income ratio". (And yet he still calls...perhaps he thinks I've taken up forgery??) I'll spare you the sordid details, because this is, sadly, a deeply unoriginal situation, but the bills got higher, more debt accrued, and my job options sucked.

Fast forward to this previous Thursday. I was full of ennui, and had spent a tremendously uplifting few hours on the phone with assorted organizations to whom I owe varyingly large chunks of money explaining why they would not be getting it on time this month. I did occasionally come up for air to look at my dog's food bin and wonder how long I could really make it stretch. Cheery, right? (Must I mention that at 1 in the afternoon I was still in my pajamas, or can we all just make that assumption?)

Anyhoo...phone rings. And it is The Only Goddamn Job I Can Physically Do being offered. (One's options are a bit limited when driving is verboten and standing isn't an option.) Cue angelic chorus. Because starting Monday, there will be liquidity! And benefits! And a 3 mile drive from home! And holidays! And did I mention solvency?? It's hard to go from Dickensian despair to full on euphoria in less than 5 minutes, but it can be done. There was dancing around the living room with two slightly puzzled, but very game, Labradors, and several celebratory phone calls. Because while this isn't the dream job, it's going to let me live a LIFE. And a life without perpetual financial disaster looming is the dream now. It's going to take a long time to dig myself out of debt, but at least I can start doing so. And I am so relieved my bones feel like they're made of Jell-O.

I didn't buy myself a celebratory bottle of champagne, but I did make some hot cocoa and turned the thermostat up to 64. Because this winter? We're going to be warm. And a whole lot less afraid.












Pan above, and Cara below, who will be getting GOOD TOYS for Christmas this year. (And an ongoing supply of Eukanuba.) Because there are no better dogs, and they have let me cry on them for a long time.
And yes, next post will be food-related, I promise!

1 comment:

  1. Jenn, You're choking me up!
    I'm so happy for you. --Pam

    ReplyDelete