OK, joel....a li'll story for ya.....
Once upon a time, a wee lass named Noelle lost her job in her first two weeks into recovery.
On Monday, June 23rd of 1986, Noelle went to her first AA meeting and made the decision to quit, and got her one of those 'desire chips' '24hr chips' whatever one wants to call them (now don't ask me anything about that meeting; I don't remember a thang).
The next weekend, June 28th and 29th, there was a pretty much citywide party (at least in one area of town), and Noelle went to pretty much all of it, and she didn't pick up. However, on July 1st, Noelle received a call from her mom, asking that she come back to SF, to help her mom straighten out the house a bit, and get her financial papers in better order. You see, on June 30th, my mom was in an auto accident --- I might add here that it was an auto/pedestrian accident, as my mom doesn't drive, nor does she own a car. Bless her heart, at 69 years of age, and being thrown about 50/60 feet, her only major damage was a slightly fractured hip bone, and a dislocated finger.
Well, let me tell you, Noelle's mom had never come to her and asked for her help (in fact, Noelle couldn't remember a time when her mom ever admitted she needed any help, from anyone, but least of all, from Noelle; Noelle, of course, at the time, was an alcoholic and addict, remember).
But when Noelle took this request to her employer, she was told NOT to expect her job back if she left [heck, Noelle, at first, was only asking for a weekend (a long weekend, perhaps, but only a weekend)]. Well that was an easy 'major' decision to make in early recovery; Noelle caught the first available flight from Houston to SF; she could think on, and worry about her stuff (back in Houston) later.
Going back to SF was definitely the right decision. Noelle had a temp sponsor back in Houston, and, in SF, she had one of her bestest friends (who, by the way, had just celebrated three years clean/sober). I always refer to her as my long distance sponsor, and she did good work with me during those first couple of weeks in SF. She took me to a bunch of meetings (mostly womyn's meetings), just to get me started----led by the hand, so to speak, to the first meeting, for the rest, I was on my own, and the good ole SF's bus lines. Good sponsor there. She showed me where the meetings were, and then let me sink or swim (so to speak) on my own (she knew it was my recovery and I needed to work it for myself, not led by the hand at all times). She knew my recovery had to be up to me. Now, if the weather was crap, or if she happened to be going to one of those same meetings, of course she'd offer me a ride, but mostly it was up to moi. ...and whadyano, I made it to one meeting a day.....ain't that amazin' (all by my li'll ole self) ----- (o:
Just to get you caught up, when Noelle returned to Houston (about 3 months later.....lolol -- figured I didn't have much to come back to), her ex-employer had just 'dumped' all her stuff on the bare floor of one of the vacant apartments (there were lots of these, as the place was a dump, and probly should have been condemned way back when). All Noelle had to do was, neatly, put all her stuff in the back of her P/U with camper shell, and she was all set. Noelle lived on the streets for a while; she house/apartment sat for friends she'd met in AA (and they trusted her---what a shock to her system, that was, for Noelle----some ppl actually knew her and still trusted her----LOLOL); she lived in a half-way house; and she lived in a womyn's shelter for her last 1 1/2 months of being homeless (so se could accumulate the $$ to get her own apartment (woooooohooooooo!!!)
Anyway, joel, that's ma story (and I'm stickin' to it---lol), and my thoughts are with you during this time of unemployment. Yes, this is a tough time to be unemployed, but I'm bettin' on you, joel.....you just keep on trudgin' the road of happy destiny; there a lot of might fine folks to meet 'n greet on that road. (o:
NoelleR