Unemployment Diary: Uncle!!!

"It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.
"So it is."
"And freezing."
"Is it?"
"Yes," said Eeyore.
"However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."

I'll be honest with you. I considered not writing because how much more can I say on this subject without sprouting long ears and a pinned tail from my backside?

This is distressing because I never identified with Eeyore before.  I see myself as a charming melange of Tigger's exuberance and Pooh's steady cheerfulness with dashes of equal parts Piglet's anxieties and Rabbit's control issues and clenched anus.

The word dash is subject to interpretation.  The word anus is not.

But now, I need a bow for my tail because I am Eeyore.

As Monday comes to a close, I should be writing to tell you how things were resolved regarding the unemployment issue, but resolution is postponed.  What couldn't be addressed over the phone on Friday because of "privacy" issues, couldn't be dealt with today because of five inches of snow otherwise known as a weather emergency here in Georgia.

School closings were announced last night in anticipation of inclement weather.

Inclement weather sounds like your kindly great uncle with those owlish glasses and loose dentures.  This was more like a weather rave with a light show, thumping music and confetti falling into your hair and making it hard to see. The snow started lightly around 9:00, and by midnight, everything was sparkling white.  The brightest lightening I've ever seen streaked across the sky seconds before thunder rumbled around us causing the house to shake.

Georgia is not prepared for this kind of weather.  We don't experience it often enough to invest in snow removal equipment and material.  The way the economy is now, the state can't even afford to mow the sides of the road or pick up debris so when snow that wouldn't be considered significant in other places, better prepared places, falls here, we know what comes next.

Snow day!!!!

Although in this case, it means snow days.  Plural.  School has already been cancelled for tomorrow, as well.  And while this is fabulous news from the Yay, we can sleep in and do snowy things and drink hot chocolate standpoint, it caused me nail-chewing anxiety this morning as I phoned the Department of Labor to find out if the office was open.

You can guess the rest.

In the grand scheme of things, however, it's only money.  It's not life or death.  The world is full of horrors and tragedy. This is not a horror or tragedy.  It's snow and inconvenience and stress that will pass and be replaced with a good day followed by other good days and occasional bad days.

And every one of those days is a chance to be better, to be Pooh and Tigger and yes, Piglet and Rabbit.

"No Give and Take. No Exchange of Thought. It gets you nowhere, particularly if the other person's tail is only just in sight for the second half of the conversation."

Eeyore from "The House at Pooh Corner" by A. A. Milne

How do you pull yourself out of the tailspin?  Do you make up backstories for well-known characters?  You know.  Like Pooh smoked weed,   Tigger's energy came from a raging coke habit that he supported by bouncing in alleys for money,  Piglet popped Xanax like candy, Rabbit was a gambler and occasional huffer of cleaning supplies and Eeyore?  A total wino. Of course.