It is not that bad to need a job. It is not that bad to search for a job. It is very messy when you need a job and have no idea where you will end up or how long you'll be staying where you are presently. It is terrible that there is no map or plan to follow that can tell you where to go and it all might turn out. With the passing of time the way grows fuzzier rather than clearer. Family who were once close neighbors now separated by many miles and then there’s that sharp reduction of funds. Friends that once provided a critical support system before are miles away worrying about how to redraw their own lives and bear the separation from their own families.

Now that we are all struggling to rebuild our lives since Hurricane Katrina, ripped them apart very simple things are those things that are most missed and mourned. I want an oyster Po'boy and a chance to share it with my best friends. I want to have all of my sisters and brother come to Ma's house and laugh about stupid family stories and argue about politics. I want to not be so sad and definitely not be so damn angry. Most of all I want to be closer to God because I am firm in my belief it was He that guided us safely from New Orleans to friends and family.

Finally, I miss the job that severely underpaid me. I don't miss the miserable pay. I do miss my students. I have taught reading in general and adults in particular for over twenty years. I have 19 years of work left to go before I can retire. I have decided that my gift is in teaching. It is my calling and I need to continue to do it while improving my own education. Maybe this is my time to get re-educated so that I can handle the next challenges in adult education. Those challenges are coming quickly. From that perspective unemployment may not be such a bad thing as much a kind of preparation for yielding me more green (money).