Dr. Laura,
Just watched your video - My Husband Has Been Laid Off. We can relate. Married 40 years with 2 adult-married sons. I stayed at home and home schooled them through high school.
My husband was laid off a year and a half ago and still no employment. This is totally new as he has always been employed.
At nearly 65 years of age our throwaway society even tosses able people aside when they turn "60 something." Not whining, just stating a fact. My hubby can fix anything. If some new-fangled thing breaks he tears it apart to "see" what is broken. He'll find schematics, call the manufacturer to explore options, to determine "if" and "how" to fix it. Sadly, we have a discard society.
While employed, his work vehicle and work trailer were stolen (containing many of his tools) through no fault of his. He was trying to fix something the other day and make do with what is left of his tools and that was when I "saw" my "Mr. Fix-It-Man's" pain. WOW! I knew it must have been emasculating for him these last 18 months not having a job, but I hadn't "seen" it. We look for employment every morning, searching every online job search listing company, submit applications and resumes that fit his skill set, and pray our/his job will be today. Reinventing yourself at 60+ is difficult navigating.
What am I doing? Supporting where I can in whatever way I can. I've always found/done something to help make ends meet while a stay-at-home mom in sales of something. I've taken online classes to keep up/sharpen my clerical skills and I have moved into the daily job search market myself.
We know and have faith there is a job somewhere that has each of our names on them. It's a day-by day, step-by-step, moment-by-moment faith walk we do together with God. He's our glue.
Rita
