Slob's Sole

Aside from the obvious lack of income (and the cessation of all activities that require money), the only downside I’ve found to being unemployed is foot pain. A couple of weeks ago, I started feeling like I had bruises on both feet where the arch and ball meet. It was painful to walk sometimes and there were little nodules that hurt if I hit them against something.

I told my husband about it and he reminded me that he had the same problem when he first began working at home. Other than on business trips and when he went running, he rarely wore shoes. I realized I had worn nothing but flip flops and/or gone barefoot for the past two months, with only a few exceptions. Apparently, like “tennis elbow” and “roofer’s knee”, there is a medical condition that I must dub “slob’s sole”. I have broken out the Crocs while inside the house and yes, friends, tennis shoes (gasp!) when outside for the last few days and it has seemed to help the problem.

Painful feet aside, not dining out, getting dollar cones and sundaes in the McDonald’s drive-thru instead of the local ice cream shop, and holding off on purchasing household items is a small sacrifice for waking up happy every day. I still get up at 6:15 every morning to get the kids out the door, but I don’t hit the snooze button three times then mope around with my coffee under a low-hanging cloud of dread. I don’t go to bed with a little ball of misery in my stomach. My husband doesn’t find me muttering to myself and scowling into space anymore. I miss our cleaning lady A LOT, but I don’t miss my job at all.

Will the satisfaction of fixing the message center/pen holder in our kitchen, replacing all the burnt-out light bulbs, purging girls’ socks that don’t fit anymore, and cooking from actual recipes wear off eventually? Maybe, but there is a huge stack of books waiting to be read and several hundred other projects – writing, drawing, photo organizing, painting, yard-taming -- I’ve wanted to tackle since before I had kids waiting impatiently for me.

I do miss my wonderful friends at work. On the other hand, I actually have more time to communicate with them now, and I’m slowly reintroducing myself to non-work friends I haven’t spoken with or seen in ages.

I am grateful that despite our family’s budget cutbacks and changes, we are OK. I lost my job and I am angry about how it happened, but we are fortunate compared to many, many families in Michigan right now. The recession hit here years before it hit the rest of the country, and the statistics are depressing indeed. In 2009, more than one-third (36%) of all Michigan children under age 18 were living in a household where no parent had full-time, year-round employment. Michigan currently ranks 47^th in the U.S. in secure parental employment. For a snapshot of how kids are faring here, see the Michigan League for Human Services’ summary of the KIDS COUNT report.

Arguably, this experience will build character and produce some positive results for my kids. Gratification will be delayed, we’ll eat healthier at home than in restaurants, the pace of our life is slower, and of course you know the old saying about “When Mama ain’t happy”. Mama’s been much happier lately. And of course, I’ve always been a bargain hunter.

I know our story is unusual, though, and I worry about the 280,098 other children in Michigan whose parents lost their jobs (and possibly their houses, their cars, and adequate food supplies) last year. The state’s response has been to cut unemployment benefits, make it more difficult to get food assistance, and cut over 11,000 families (with 30,000 kids) off from the Family Independence Program’s financial assistance starting October 1. I have heard of more companies hiring lately, but in many cases, like the outside vendor’s jobs that replaced mine, or the new Wal-Mart in a neighboring city, the pay is considerably less than the jobs that disappeared. I also feel guilty about the ripple effect of our personal cutbacks; we're no longer patronizing local restaurants, going out for coffee or ice cream, or hitting local festivals, which impacts the livelihood of small business owners and employees. 

For the last eight years or so here in Michigan, I kept hoping we had already hit bottom, but as it turns out we had a long way to go. Once you get so far down, it takes a lot longer to get up. There are lots of talented, dedicated people here waiting to climb uphill, painful feet and all. Of course, if they can't sell their house or afford moving expenses, they don't really have a choice.