Spring = changes
I have hated this time of year. For the past 6 years every Spring has brought changes to my life and with it the stress and anxiety of not knowing what the future held.
It all started in 2005, before that I was in school every year so yes spring was stressful with exams and looking for a summer job, but at least I knew where I would be in the fall and had a plan.
In spring of 2005 I was finishing up my last year of vet school and didn't know if I would graduate or not. It was one of the most stressful times in my life and still makes me angry to this day the way some of the faculty at OVC treated me for no reason.
Because of this I had to hold off on searching for my first job until the middle of May once I knew everything was going to be okay. Unfortunately by that time most jobs are taken, however I was just so relieved to be done with school I didn't care and decided to enjoy a summer off for the first time since I was a child.
The spring of 2006 found me at another one of my lowest points in my life. Living with my parents for the year was not good for me. I was put down everyday by them and despite actively looking for work I could not find anything in our area. I put my resume on the AVMA site and for the first time started getting flooded with calls and interviews, however after travelling for quite a few of those interviews on my own (well my parent's since I was completely broke at this time) dime and then being rejected I was not feeling too great. Then in April things finally made a turn and I got 2 offers. I wonder to this day what my life would be like if I took the job in Ohio instead of MA. Oh well can't change the past and there were big red flags with that job, unfortunately there were also red flags with the job in MA (probably even bigger than the Ohio ones) only they were hidden.
Spring 2007 found me doing well for the first time of my life, but as the season went on things got worse and worse. Business started to get low because clients were finding out about my employers secrets. My boss took this opportunity to then decrease my hours and put me from a straight salary to a straight hourly wage to save money - all without even letting me know - the things this woman was able to get away with all because I was on a work visa and therefore needed to be working in order to stay in the country. I finally had enough on Memorial Day weekend when along with my letter I needed to get a new visa for the year she wrote me a nasty letter which ruined my short vacation home with my family. Of course when I went back to work on that Thurday is acted like we were best friends again. I seriously think she has a case of bipolar disorder. Anyways I couldn't stick around there anymore and gave my 4 week notice that summer as it stated in my contract, which she then told me to leave that day making me have to borrow money for the rest of the summer to live until my new job started. Oh well at least I got another summer off to enjoy with Jared.
Things really started getting bad again in spring 2008. We were planning our wedding for that September and then dh got fired on Good Friday. Of course this is right after his work made him catch the stomach flu which passed to me over Easter weekend and since my folks came down that weekend to meet dh's family, well they ended up getting it to - on their drive home.
His work than claimed to be part of the Catholic church - something that might have been true in 1960, but not today, however this allowed them to get out of giving him UE. UE told him to then try welfare, but they then disqualified him because dh was too honest with them. We weren't married at the time so they never should have looked into my status. Anyways I found out a few weeks later that I was going to be laid off (welcome to the recession of 2008). Luckily I was able to beg my boss into keeping me on part time and half the salary until I found another job since I needed to be working for my visa - otherwise I am suppose to pick my belongs and leave the US that next day which as you know is impossible to do, especially when we were 6 months away from our wedding.
I got laid off again in the spring of 2009 - thanks mortage companies that made the housing market crash and caused the worst recession since the Great Depression. I remember what I learned in economics about veterinary medicine being an inelastic field - well that is a bunch of BS! Veterinary medicine like any other service industry job relies on customers and if people can't pay their bill or afford to do work because they aren't working well you are not going to be paid. I think the only true inelastic fields are government jobs, since they seem to take more and more money no matter what the economy is like.
The only good thing at this point in time was I had just received my green card so for the first time could apply for UE and didn't have to worry that a job loss also meant losing my immigration status.
In the spring of 2010 Caitlyn was born. Well she was actually born in winter, but at the end of winter and so for the first half of spring I was going back and forth to the nicu every day, while also trying have my body recover from the pre-eclampsia. She then came home April 15 and it was still another 3 weeks before she even hit the newborn stage. I also was not collecting at this time due to me not knowing how the extensions worked. It was probably for a good thing though since I wasn't looking for work at the time since Caitlyn was a 24/7 job.
So now this brings us to the spring of 2011. My UE is almost up - it will be completely exhausted the 2nd last week of spring. My lease is up at the end of that month too (like it has almost every year since 2007 - which also adds to the anxiety that spring brings each year). I am going to be starting back to work soon and with it being a new business I do not know what the future holds and I am stressed about that, but I don't have a choice. We need money coming in and I am ready to be working again now that Caitlyn is no longer a little baby. I am hoping this spring brings about good changes instead of bad ones, but right now since it is the start of the season I do not know. I wish sometimes I could just skip ahead to the summer time since by July/August my life always seems to be a bit more stable.
I am wondering when this cycle is going to stop and I will not have to face new changes and uncertainity every single year.
It all started in 2005, before that I was in school every year so yes spring was stressful with exams and looking for a summer job, but at least I knew where I would be in the fall and had a plan.
In spring of 2005 I was finishing up my last year of vet school and didn't know if I would graduate or not. It was one of the most stressful times in my life and still makes me angry to this day the way some of the faculty at OVC treated me for no reason.
Because of this I had to hold off on searching for my first job until the middle of May once I knew everything was going to be okay. Unfortunately by that time most jobs are taken, however I was just so relieved to be done with school I didn't care and decided to enjoy a summer off for the first time since I was a child.
The spring of 2006 found me at another one of my lowest points in my life. Living with my parents for the year was not good for me. I was put down everyday by them and despite actively looking for work I could not find anything in our area. I put my resume on the AVMA site and for the first time started getting flooded with calls and interviews, however after travelling for quite a few of those interviews on my own (well my parent's since I was completely broke at this time) dime and then being rejected I was not feeling too great. Then in April things finally made a turn and I got 2 offers. I wonder to this day what my life would be like if I took the job in Ohio instead of MA. Oh well can't change the past and there were big red flags with that job, unfortunately there were also red flags with the job in MA (probably even bigger than the Ohio ones) only they were hidden.
Spring 2007 found me doing well for the first time of my life, but as the season went on things got worse and worse. Business started to get low because clients were finding out about my employers secrets. My boss took this opportunity to then decrease my hours and put me from a straight salary to a straight hourly wage to save money - all without even letting me know - the things this woman was able to get away with all because I was on a work visa and therefore needed to be working in order to stay in the country. I finally had enough on Memorial Day weekend when along with my letter I needed to get a new visa for the year she wrote me a nasty letter which ruined my short vacation home with my family. Of course when I went back to work on that Thurday is acted like we were best friends again. I seriously think she has a case of bipolar disorder. Anyways I couldn't stick around there anymore and gave my 4 week notice that summer as it stated in my contract, which she then told me to leave that day making me have to borrow money for the rest of the summer to live until my new job started. Oh well at least I got another summer off to enjoy with Jared.
Things really started getting bad again in spring 2008. We were planning our wedding for that September and then dh got fired on Good Friday. Of course this is right after his work made him catch the stomach flu which passed to me over Easter weekend and since my folks came down that weekend to meet dh's family, well they ended up getting it to - on their drive home.
His work than claimed to be part of the Catholic church - something that might have been true in 1960, but not today, however this allowed them to get out of giving him UE. UE told him to then try welfare, but they then disqualified him because dh was too honest with them. We weren't married at the time so they never should have looked into my status. Anyways I found out a few weeks later that I was going to be laid off (welcome to the recession of 2008). Luckily I was able to beg my boss into keeping me on part time and half the salary until I found another job since I needed to be working for my visa - otherwise I am suppose to pick my belongs and leave the US that next day which as you know is impossible to do, especially when we were 6 months away from our wedding.
I got laid off again in the spring of 2009 - thanks mortage companies that made the housing market crash and caused the worst recession since the Great Depression. I remember what I learned in economics about veterinary medicine being an inelastic field - well that is a bunch of BS! Veterinary medicine like any other service industry job relies on customers and if people can't pay their bill or afford to do work because they aren't working well you are not going to be paid. I think the only true inelastic fields are government jobs, since they seem to take more and more money no matter what the economy is like.
The only good thing at this point in time was I had just received my green card so for the first time could apply for UE and didn't have to worry that a job loss also meant losing my immigration status.
In the spring of 2010 Caitlyn was born. Well she was actually born in winter, but at the end of winter and so for the first half of spring I was going back and forth to the nicu every day, while also trying have my body recover from the pre-eclampsia. She then came home April 15 and it was still another 3 weeks before she even hit the newborn stage. I also was not collecting at this time due to me not knowing how the extensions worked. It was probably for a good thing though since I wasn't looking for work at the time since Caitlyn was a 24/7 job.
So now this brings us to the spring of 2011. My UE is almost up - it will be completely exhausted the 2nd last week of spring. My lease is up at the end of that month too (like it has almost every year since 2007 - which also adds to the anxiety that spring brings each year). I am going to be starting back to work soon and with it being a new business I do not know what the future holds and I am stressed about that, but I don't have a choice. We need money coming in and I am ready to be working again now that Caitlyn is no longer a little baby. I am hoping this spring brings about good changes instead of bad ones, but right now since it is the start of the season I do not know. I wish sometimes I could just skip ahead to the summer time since by July/August my life always seems to be a bit more stable.
I am wondering when this cycle is going to stop and I will not have to face new changes and uncertainity every single year.