Time drags for those who want to work

  • Kristi O’Harran / Herald Columnist
  • Thursday, January 17, 2002 9:00pm
  • Local News

My husband is doing the 4 p.m. whirling dervish at our house. Being out of work for four months has turned his time schedule topsy turvy. He is up all night and sleeps all day.

At 4 p.m., when he knows I will be getting home in an hour, he plunges into ongoing projects or scoots the vacuum back and forth. Waiting for construction jobs to pick up, he paints the bathroom and rearranges cupboards in the kitchen. It’s really important to him that I appreciate the extra load he pulls around the house.

Chuck is a poster boy for the moral ethic that a person should get up and go to work every day. His self-esteem is tied to his job as a union sheet metal installer. The recession that finds more than 20,000 Snohomish County neighbors out of work hit close to home.

My son Brody’s girlfriend, Lisa, lost a great job, along with dozens of her co-workers, when her company downsized in October. Be afraid if you get to work some day and you can’t log on to your computer.

Brody’s company, Immunex, was bought by Amgen. His position will probably be expendable by summer.

I even feel sorry for my ex-husband, a logging truck driver for 32 years, who lost his job Wednesday when Weyerhaueser laid off 60 workers.

For Chuck, being stuck at home is emotionally draining. He doesn’t like to watch "Oprah" during the day, so sleep helps pass the time. When I go to bed at 10 p.m., he is wide awake. Before our neighbor’s rooster crows, I hear Chuck putting clothes in the dryer.

You know things are on the edge when you divide the amount left in your unemployment fund by the amount the state sends every Wednesday, so you know how much is left in your bucket.

Chuck could receive 12 more weeks of unemployment benefits.

It’s hard not to let financial and emotional matters make you crabby. One morning, Chuck made my cheese sandwich to take to work. He cut it straight across the bread. I shouldn’t have been critical, but I mentioned that I prefer a diagonal cut. One night, when he served a noodle casserole with buttered bread, I pushed the cold bread across the table.

"Would you rather have the bread toasted, honey?" he said. He scraped off the butter, toasted the bread, then reapplied the butter.

The man loves me.

I don’t deserve him.

It’s hard to remember mutual adoration during endless budget battles. What bills should we pay this week? Where can we fudge? What’s left in the bank? Turn off that light. Where did the $20 go you had last Tuesday?

Christmas was easy. We enjoyed breakfast at Brody’s apartment and skipped the presents. Hey, Christmas really is about being together. After the holiday, his father drove his truck to Brody’s house to pick up his Christmas tree for disposal. It kept Chuck busy for half an hour.

He loves to feel needed. Our daughter, Kati, couldn’t find oil filters for her Oldsmobile. Her daddy leapt at the chance to cruise around and find her filters, then delivered them to her job.

The only bad thing Chuck has done since he has been unemployed is trying to take over my cat, Guy Guy, who used to only have eyes for me. Chuck spent the past months coaxing my cuddle bug to jump on his lap for head rubs. I hope my hubby gets called to work and I get my cat back.

What happens to our little family if unemployment benefits run out? I’d say stay tuned, but like thousands of other local folks, we hope it doesn’t go that far.

Kristi O’Harran’s column appears Tuesdays and Fridays. If you have an idea for her, call 425-339-3451 or e-mail oharran@heraldnet.com.

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