It occurred to me the other day that our family has become the oft-cited stereotype of this recession: My close-to-50 husband has lost his well-paid management job and his former very-part-time-job wife is working full-time (well, except for the benefits part; I am getting 5 days of sub work a week).
What this reinforces is that behind every stereotype is a very individual story; something we know, but we often forget.
I have to give my husband props for how upbeat he’s been and also for the fact that he knows I’m used to picking up a lot (constantly) when I’m home and that a clean house is important to me. I wouldn’t say he’s been keeping it exactly as I would, but I also realize I’m a bit of a clutter nazi and I could stand to chill a little. He does a really great job. He’s sure not a beer-drinking, belly-scratching sloth wasting his day in front of Jerry Springer!
I must say that if you find yourself thrust into full-time work you could do worse than subbing. Other than the occasional day from hell, spending the day with students leaves me pretty energized and I actually work the mythical 7+1/2 hour day people erroneously think teachers work (I’ve not ever met a decent teacher who can actually plan and grade during those hours). That leaves me plenty of time in the afternoon for a long walk with friends or a bike ride with my husband—and if I felt like cooking dinner I would totally have time to do it.
The part that is off-kilter though is the timing—all the signs in the economy have been so much better that I think most people who were just recently laid off (and we’ve talked to a few) naively thought they’d dodged the bullet.
I suppose there might be a lesson in there (don’t ever feel safe? it can happen to you?), but sometimes you’re just too busy trying to figure out your next move to take the time to figure it out.