Exactly one day before his birthday, and 3 days after his group signed another big contract with a HUGE client, Stephen got laid off from his job. Damn.Engineers don't get laid off, do they? I thought that was limited to us peons in the communications industry who work our asses off making sure our engineering/high tech clients look good, only to find out the 60+ hour work weeks we put in don't matter because PR to them doesn't matter.
But I digress.
Here we go again.
It wasn't that long ago - or was it?, almost 5 months now - that I was laid off. But 8 weeks after that hammer dropped, I was back in the line of gainfully employed.
So I should have been prepared. But when I got the call from him - ironically around the same time I called him those 5 months ago - I cried.
How do you not cry? I cried because the feelings I tried so hard to repress and forget came rushing back. I cried because of the uncertainty. And I cried because I'm a crybaby.
For his part, he was very stoic, and put on the bravest face. The same way I put on a brave face when I got "let go." His words were "we'll be fine." I remember when I uttered those same words to him.
It's a blessing. In disguise. Major disguise. We'll see what happens. We'll pull through this. We'll one day thank God that this happened.
Maybe this means you should come back to Texas! I kid. :D But seriously, these things have a way of leading us in a slightly different direction we didn't see before or were too scared to take. You guys WILL be fine. In the meantime, I'm praying for you both.
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