Expiration Dates and a Dirty Knife

The company where my husband works, and where I once worked, had a layoff today. It was huge, it was difficult for all involved, and I was sure I had a grip on things.

I reminded friends that were still there to take care of themselves. Doing their usual routine, eating well, and getting decent rest will help them get through the turmoil of the layoff.

Within those posts, I didn’t find anyone I knew that was laid off today. Yet there were about 1000 people that lost their jobs. It was strange. It should have been comforting, especially since my husband was still employed.

Yet here I sit at midnight, wide awake.

I tried to sleep. I didn’t have thoughts of the layoff running through my head or worries about what we would do if my husband was one of those thousand or so people facing such a hard, life-changing moment today…because we’ve been through it before. In the almost seventeen years we have been together he has been laid off once and I have three times.

Or was it four?

So, why am I sitting here at midnight, wide awake?

I decided that staying in bed wide awake was unhealthy. I came downstairs, wrote a book review, then attacked part of my pantry looking for expiration dates.

Expiration dates.

Wouldn’t life be easier to prepare for if jobs had expiration dates? Layoffs certainly wouldn’t be such a shock and surprise. Yes, that’s unrealistic, but should we go through our entire lives wondering if we might get laid off?

The answer, in my book, is no. We should be as prepared as possible but should not dwell on it. There are so many other things in life to focus on besides expiration dates.

So, I moved on from the pantry and over to the sink where I found a used knife just sitting there on the counter. Which one of us left it there? Did it matter? Was I too tired to dare clean something sharp? Could I drive myself to the ER if I sliced my finger open while attempting to wash this knife just shy of midnight?

Luckily, I had a special tool for cleaning knives. Seriously. As I get older, I constantly look for gadgets to make life easier on my hands, my eyes, my patience…

I look for ways to make life easier…better. How could I feel better about today’s layoff I wondered as I put away the knife.

So, now my knife is clean. One shelf in my pantry has nothing on it that is past its expiration date. My review is written. An entry for my blog is almost done. (Give me a minute or so and it will be)

Yet here I sit at midnight. Still wide awake.

I’m not thinking about the layoff. Not exactly.

Earlier today I read through post upon post on LinkedIn of people offering those laid off a shoulder to lean on, leads for jobs, access to their network of friends and so much more. People who were still at the company, people that used to work there, and people who knew people that worked there.

And it hit me.

This is a company that always touted itself as a family. There had been a much smaller layoff two years ago and I remember people that were laid off wondering how a company could say they are a family and then let a layoff happen.

Layoffs happen. It was an unfortunate inevitability, and the company was lucky to last as long as it had without one.

But companies can’t be family.

The people can. They are…especially at that company. They reached out a hand, a shoulder, a network to those that lost their jobs.

Now it’s time for me to take my own advice. I need to focus on myself so I can help my husband and my friends process through this.

Step one?

Go to bed.