Goodbye Sweet Atticus...1992-2009

We had to let go of our first kitty, Atticus. Heartache and misery to let go of my little guy. He was not a cat...he was a feline entity...so much personality. The house is empty without him.

Laid off...

For the past two years I have loved my job as a clinical social worker with older adults. We had a really unique program that helped older folks with mild cognitive impairment or mental health issues such as depression get their lives back. We saw so many people regain their resiliency and make new meaning and purpose for themselves.

But this year's Medicare cuts drove the final nail in our coffin. Our program was cut and the entire staff laid off. We will finish out treatment for our current patients and then we are off to hinterlands of unemployment, or even worse, forced into a job we are not suited for. It's all really depressing and the patients are angry and upset because there's no other program we can refer them to that's like ours.

It's been the best two years of employment I've ever had. It's a bad time to be jobless. I hope things turn out okay. It's definitely an anxiety-producing time.