I say that this blog is about the roller coaster ride that is searching for a new job and today I once again reached the top of the hill on that roller coaster and nearly threw up. My hands were sweaty, yet ice cold, and the tears in my eyes weren’t from the wind whipping at that altitude but from wanting to get off the coaster and knowing I couldn’t get off until the ride was over.
I wasn’t really on a roller coaster, of course, but sitting in my home office doing the job search online while waiting on hold with Unemployment. Although I was listening to recorded announcements about unemployment while I was on hold, I swear I heard the clink-clink of the chain of the coaster pulling me up the track to the top of the hill. I waited for over 30 minutes, the whole time sooooooo tempted to hang up the phone. But I knew that since I had finally found the courage to make the call, I had to sit at the top of the hill and wait for it to plummet me down to the bottom. I was strapped in with no way out but to finish it.
Finally, my call was transferred to Dawn. I felt the coaster car lurch forward and we began our quick descent down the hill. I gave her my social security number, my name and address and date of birth. I told her that when I did my claim online the other day it said I was done collecting benefits. Now I was in that state of hang time where your stomach is up in your throat and your bottom is off the seat.
Dawn looked up my information as I held tight to the coaster rail (in this case my phone) and I realized my fingers were as white-knuckled as they were when I rode the Aerosmith Rock ‘N’ Roll Coaster in Walt Disney World.
And then, as my hang time increased, Dawn told me I was eligible for another Tier of Emergency Unemployment. I was in such a panic from the lengthy hang time that I didn’t realize we were at the bottom of the hill until I felt my stomach return to its rightful place in my body. I was still afraid to loosen my grip on the safety bar/phone but felt the tears that had threatened at the top of the hill fall from my eyes in sweet relief.
I had survived yet another plummet to the bottom. I thanked Dawn profusely as my coaster car rolled back to the start/finish area. I am still composing myself an hour later.
Time to go give thanks. And change my underwear . . .
