Rites of Passage

Last Friday, in the morning, I was laid off from my job of four years; in the evening, I attended my son Zachary’s high school graduation.

Both events are rites of passage – in Zach’s case, it meant a transition from a fairly standard existence during his 12 years of public education into a somewhat uncertain life that will include work and college; in my case, the transition was a good deal more uncertain.

So I guess you could say that for me, on Friday, this economic downturn went from being a recession to being a depression. I’m not going to let it get me depressed, however. Even at the time when I was getting the bad news, I had reflexively let my (at that moment, former employers) know that I’ve spent a lot of my adult life as owner of a freelance business, and that I could continue to help the company on a contract basis, if need be. (That’s where the information came from in the “About” link.)

I used to say that freelancing was good, because you could have a bunch of employers, any one of whom could “let you go,” at any given time, and you’d still have (“a bunch minus one”) employers. So you’re still in business. When you have just one employer, as I’ve just recently had, when they let you go, you’re kind of hurting.

Anyway, this is not the first time I’ve been laid off; it is, however, the first time I’ve been laid off and have had access to a wonderful set of tools such as those provided by linked-in and also wordpress. We’ll see where it goes.