A Thanksgiving Irony

Sorry if this is a bit of a downer, but I feel like it has to be said, maybe more for my own benefit than for anything else.

As many of you know, over the past months, like so many others, I have found myself looking for work. As a matter of fact, it was 7 months ago today that I last worked. The past 7 months have been a figurative rollercoaster of emotion; job interviews, promising leads, unreturned phone calls, and potential employers who have dropped off the face of the earth following an interview. Through all of this, with the help of the other clowns on this blog, I have tried to keep in the best humor possible. My mantra has been, “It could be a lot worse.” My family is blessed to have a emotional and financial support structure. We have some ‘rainy day’ money put away, and unlike so many others, we are in no danger of missing payments on anything. We also have out health, sure there’s a cold here and there, and toddlers are so gracious in sharing germs that sniffles are a way of life in the Pauly household.

That said, last week was a particularly difficult one for me. Early in the week, I found out I was no longer in consideration for one position, it became apparent that I had been passed over by a second company as it’s been two and a half weeks since my interview and there has been no follow up, and it’s looking more and more like my latest best hope will also pass me over (more on that later); Monday, after three weeks of fighting a cold my son was sent home from daycare with a fever – requiring that he stay home Tuesday, I’ve been fighting a cough for three weeks, my daughter and wife have gotten the mung and to top it off, I had to take my dog to the emergency vet last Wednesday for a bum paw. That little trip set me back $170 for three anti-inflammatory. So Thanksgiving was looking to be a blast. Sure, down deep, I know it could be much worse, and we/I still had plenty to be thankful for, although I was getting real tired of getting kicked.

All this is just back story to something that happened today. As is my usual routine, after our breakfast, my daughter watches some cartoons and I retire to the laptop to go back to the job search. Until about 10 a.m. I have the TV on ESPN2, listening/watching Mike and Mike, they make me laugh and have sports views very similar to ours. Today something struck a nerve. Today, they’re doing a live remote from Dallas, not in an ESPN Zone or from an ESPN Radio Affiliate, but from a children’s cancer hospital. They’ve show several shots of the guys interacting with kids ranging from 3 to 18 who are in this place fighting for their very existence. I don’t mean to get too heavy or depressing. We’ve become accustom to using this forum as a place for levity and frivolity with the occasional meaningful note mixed in. But I truly believe this show was a message to me today – it really can be worse We all have children we’re close to; some of us are even parents.

I’m not really sure what the point of all this was other than to say we each need to thank the Almighty (whatever we believe), that our children (or the children we care about) are happy, healthy, and loved. . As I sit here and write this, I’m waiting on the last company I interviewed with to call me with their decision, in all likelihood to tell me thanks but no thanks. Originally I was supposed to hear late last week, then I was supposed to hear on Monday, now I’m supposed to hear sometime this morning. It’s an excruciating wait, but ‘it could be worse.’ I can’t stress enough how watching those kids this morning has grounded me. My job search is temporary and will, eventually, have a happy ending. Not all the kids and families in those cancer centers can will be able to say the same things.

OK, lesson over. Things could be worse. Go hug a kid you love as soon as you can. And Happy late Thanksgiving.