Thursday, October 18, 2007
Nadine's Story
| Nadine is a young mother of three, married to a wonderful man, PTA president, lives in a very nice neighborhood, stays at home with 2 of her children while the 3rd is in school, attends church faithfully, and volunteers often in her community and at church. To all outward appearances, Nadine seems to have it all together, to have the perfect life. But then you don't really know Nadine. She and her family are struggling to keep everything afloat. They have numerous credit cards, a mortgage, two car payments, and the regular monthly expenses such as utilities, groceries, doctor bills, ballet lessons, art lessons, piano lessons, etc. To be fair, they have done a good job of trying to keep the bills paid in a timely manner. This month, however, her husband's work hours have been cut which, of course, has affected his income. Nadine and her husband have some hard decisions to make, and not all of the choices are pleasant.  It's 5:00 pm, and her husband has just walked in the door after his hour-long commute. She sees the worried frown that is creasing his forehead, and suddenly feels as if the breath has been knocked out of her. "What?" she asks. Nadine knows something is not right, and mentally prepares herself for the news to come. After clearing his throat, Craig (her husband), says "Management sent out a memo to all the employees today". He pauses for a moment, too long for Nadine, who is beginning to have trouble controlling her breathing, along with her thoughts. 'What ifs' flit through her mind, but before she can form a coherent thought or question, Craig interrupts. "The pay for all workers, across the board, is being cut by 20%. Those who don't agree with this decision will be laid off at the end of the month." Nadine quickly calculates the 20% income loss, and feels tears forming in her eyes. Their income was already reduced 20% due to Craig's shortened work hours, and not being able to get overtime. A serious income reduction like this had not been taken into account when they purchased their new home several years ago. Nor had this been a factor in their calculations when they took out the 2 car loans, or the 8+ credit cards they had. Nadine and Craig stare at each other for a moment, both lost in thoughts of how this will affect them, and their children. Stay tuned for Part II of Nadine's Story... |
posted by Krista at 7:35 PM
