Little Reminders

It’s good sometimes to be reminded that our personal issues are not the worst in the world. Yesterday at work I met a woman with real problems and it made me feel small and petty for worrying about my issues, which in comparison are not the mountains I have made them out to be. This woman, probably not too much older than myself, divorced her husband 12 years ago while living in Texas. She had left a job she loved and all her family to move with him to another state far away from PA. Eight years ago she lost her 5 year old daughter to cancer. She was in a program and meeting with me because she is long-term unemployed and has not had a job in over a year. A year or so ago, while unemployed, she got mixed up in a mystery shopper scam and was arrested. She had no money to hire a lawyer and fight the case so she pleaded guilty, spent a night in jail and now has to pay off fines to have the arrest expunged from her record. Her unemployment will run out in June. She is living with her boyfriend and they only have one car, so she would need to find a schedule to work around her boyfriend’s schedule. She had been working in retail and with the issue of her record she won’t be able to find a position similar to her previous associate manager job. In fact, she will have a hard time finding any job because employers generally shy away from someone with any criminal record. And, if she doesn’t find a job and is unable to pay her fines, she will go back to jail. Yeah, my life is lookin’ pretty dam good now isn’t it?