Once upon a time there was a little company called Enron. My hubby worked for them. Like most employees he had no idea that he was working for crooks, and did his job well.
We saved our money, exercised our stock options, did all the right things with our money–bought a car with cash, put a new roof on and new furnace in the house, tithed generously to Oxfam, Oregon Food Bank, etc., and had more than a year’s worth of income in savings. We had no debt other than our mortgage. We did everything we were supposed to do.
We were so careful, we thought we were safe for the rest of our lives. ha!
In 2001 everything blew up; my husband lost his job, and our stock and retirement went down the rat hole with the rest of Enron’s employees’ stock and retirement. Our savings vanished. In 2002 I had a heart attack at age 41. The only job my hubby could find after a year of looking was $10/hr, no benefits, temporary, way way down the ladder in his field (basically answering the phone and talking to pissed-off people). In a year or so he got a better job–a little more money, full benefits–but we still couldn’t make ends meet and it still wasn’t in his field.
All of this sob story isn’t to ask for sympathy. We’re better off than a lot of people. I’m on the mend and we’ve managed to hold everything together. I am thankful every day we didn’t spend ourselves into a debt hole and lived below our means when times were good, that we paid cash for our car, that our house is old but sturdy, that when things were bleakest we qualified for WIC–and that it was there, that we didn’t let our COBRA health insurance lapse so the heart attack was covered, and that we have family that could help us a little.
On Monday my sweetheart has an interview, a chance for a real job, back doing what he was trained to do, for a real wage that would get us back on our feet. If you guys could just think good thoughts, or light a candle, or pray, or whatever you do, I would really really appreciate it. Thank you.