by Hope
I swear I could not make up my life. Seriously. I do believe someone should make a movie out of the crazy that is my life.
I believe I wrote previously that my contract job was ending. The job that I took in July when I left my dream job/team, that was supposed to become permanent ended officially on February 23rd. And I once again became jobless. At the same time every major tech company is doing massive layoffs.
200 resumes out of the door and radio silence.
More Death
Oh, then my grandmother dies. My beloved grandmother. My strongest supporter along with my uncle who died in November. It’s been a rough first quarter of 2023. She was born in 1927.
As terrible of a loss as it has been. It was also an answer to prayer, my grandmother did not want to outlive her daughter, my mom who has been on hospice care since last September.
Personal Change
To top even this off, all three of my boys are moving away in the next couple of months. The twins are moving back to Virginia in just a few short weeks and my baby boy is off to Texas this summer.
This mama is unraveled on every front. And truly struggling to come to grips with what life is supposed to look like next.
The Good News
The good news is that the trauma is beginning to recede and I am feeling the clouds clear from my head. My savings has been tiding us over thusfar. We are two months in. And while the end of my savings is in sight. It is not imminent. A very different situation than the last time I found myself unemployed for any period of time. (Any BAD readers been here that long?)
I have been blessed with a part time job with a local accountant. And I am LOVING it. It’s not much money but it’s something. (Grateful for my Sunday School class who facilitated this new job.) She gave me full time hours during tax season for a couple of weeks. And plans to keep me on part time. Currently, I am working on some technology changes and integrations for her as well as digitizing and organizing all her client files.
I think my head is on straight enough to resume writing. I appreciate those who reached out and checked on me.
Hope is a resourceful, solutions-driven online business manager with over two decades of experience helping clients streamline operations, manage projects, and grow their businesses through digital marketing and technology.
But life has a way of rewriting your plans.
A year ago, Hope made the decision to move in with her aging parents full time – a season she wouldn’t trade, even as it came with its own financial and emotional weight. Earlier this year, she lost her mother, and is now walking the tender, disorienting path of grief while learning what “forward” looks like from here.
Hope came to the Blogging Away Debt community in 2015 as a single mom raising five foster and adoptive children. She’s written through job changes, financial setbacks, and the bittersweet transition to an empty nest. Her kids are finding their footing in the world now – and so is she.
Rooted in faith and fueled by the same perseverance she’s brought to every hard season, Hope is ready to face her finances with fresh eyes and an honest pen. She believes that clarity, courage, and community can change the trajectory of anyone’s story including her own.
She lives in Austin, TX with her dad, loves adventures with her dog Addie, and is figuring out, one step at a time, what this next chapter is meant to be.
