More Than Just A Statistic

Okay. No more suspense.

My job was “eliminated” yesterday.

I am now a statistic. Female. Executive. Over 50. Unemployed.

I’ve been a statistic before, just not “unemployed”.

I’ve been married. Divorced. Single mom. Single working mom. All those things.

But never, ever, unemployed.

And certainly not in a recession, much less a bust in the oilpatch.

I knew it was coming, my boss let it slip that I was “on the list” two weeks ago. ThatManILove and I cut a traveling trip short, came home to Midland, went straight to my office and cleaned that sucker out. (I didn’t think I could stand the pressure of someone standing over me while I boxed up my office.) My boss told me many things yesterday. Affirming I was their top producer in 2008, affirming how I conducted my business throughout the almost 2 years I’d been there. But here’s the kicker - I need affirmation, and keeping my job, in some weird way, was one of the places I somehow got that affirmation. So, I needed to know “why”. I’ll probably never know the real reasons. My boss did tell me one thing - he said if he’d known the company was ever going to go down this road, he wouldn’t have brought me into the company at all.

I’m a rainmaker. I make rain. And I made a huge amount of rain for this company. The Lord seeds the clouds, and those clouds rain relationships, and I watch over those like a hawk. I nurture them like the best mom. And I win - because a huge part of those relationships become friends, and family friends at that. For those relationships, I am so very thankful.

My employer let me keep my phone, and gave me all day to do what I needed to do. I wanted to get out of there right away, but I took the time to send out bulk mails to all my customers and clients, letting them know I was leaving and giving them my new contact information.

In retrospect, I could have done that from the house. Immediately, my my work e-mail flooded. And I felt like I needed to answer all that I could, though I forwarded some to my home e-mail for later response. The voice mail on my phone filled up 3 times - before I could get it emptied, the messages recorded on paper for later attention, it would fill up again. This morning, when I awoke, the voice mail was once again full. I still have a magnum of phone calls to return.

And in the midst of all the storm, this is where things went right. People were calling to check on me all day long, and today as well. I have never felt so loved.

Now, my bloggy friends, you’re going to get to walk this road with me. My emotions are running the gamut, but I promise to keep the rants down to a certain decibel. Already, some hilarious things have happened. Welcome to Mi Vida Loca.