On Going Back to Work

8 months.  That’s how long I have been without a job due to the pandemic.  I didn’t look for a job at first.  We thought this wouldn’t last this long and to the extent it has grown/lost/extended?  Whatever the word is for we didn’t know the pandemic would cost 200,000+ lives.  Or that the economy would be trashed to the extent it is.  Or that we would reach 11.06 million people unemployed.  Whatever it is, we didn’t know.  We hoped to be back at work by July.  And then it was maybe September, December at the latest.  So, I took this time to work on me.  I filled my days with yoga and walks and learning how to bake.  I read 20 books.  I worked on my self-esteem and took up open water swimming.  I washed many dishes and loads of laundry and cooked many meals for my family.  I tried to find joy in whatever I could because as the days and weeks and months went on, sadness and depression took over.  I thought if I could just get through this…I was working through the stages of grief.  I was grieving the career I have built over 25 years.

And then things looked worse than ever.  My friends in the travel field, in parallel positions/sectors were let go from their companies.  Marriott Global was letting people go from their corporate offices by the droves.  This didn’t even happen after 9/11.  After talking to some friends in the same industry, we could see the writing on the wall that our beloved hotel business would not be coming back for a long, long time.

I started to apply for jobs.  Hundreds of jobs.  I wasn’t completely sure where I fit in anymore.  In the hospitality field, we have a ton of transferable skills.  Are companies going to really look at us?  I was discounted at first because I didn’t have the right experience.  And then I zeroed in on what I wanted to do, not on just having a job.  I have always wanted to work with the senior community.  I spent my favorite moments with my grandmother while growing up.  She was my best friend.  She saved me.  I loved our Saturday afternoons watching old movies and watching her cook.  We would dance around her living room to songs on her 8 -track tape deck.  Ha!  That ages me, doesn’t it?  It was Tony Orlando and Dawn’s “Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree”….I can still sing it.  We would go to garage sales and to doll shows.  She collected dolls and by extension, so did I.  We would eat her Chicken Paprikash or Stuffed Cabbage or she would make her leftover pie, a casserole that was much like shepherds pie, but with all of the leftovers in her fridge-and I loved it.  The weekends at her house were my favorite.  She set the tone for me knowing how to relate to older people, for having something in common with them, for loving the time spent with them. 

After a handful of interviews-both good and bad-I landed the job of my dreams.  I am starting a position as the Director of Sales in a Senior Living Community.  I am bringing my skills in hospitality sales and building relationships and applying it to a community I adore. 

And the pandemic is surging.  I am excited and scared.  Lord knows I am careful, wearing a mask everywhere and spending days alone in my living room if it seems I have been around too many people.  I am excited, beyond excited, to start a new career journey.  I am excited about my new team and my new boss.  He laughs and says, “Is this my new Director of Sales?” whenever he needs to call me. I know they are excited to have me and that makes me happy.  I am excited to be a functioning member of society again and to be a contributing member of my family again.  It has been tough financially for 8 months.  I am thrilled to be paid what I asked for, without push-back, with my boss telling me I am worth it. 

And the pandemic is still surging and I am still scared.  I am going into a community of people.  I have been tested for COVID again (negative-yay!) and they have safety protocols, but…people.  Not to mention I will have to put on real shoes and a bra again.  Haha….. I am so much the chick in a renaissance era painting…fat and laying around with her boobs out. 

The nice thing is this is deemed an essential industry, so once the vaccines are available, I will be eligible to get it early.  And, yes, I will be getting it.  I already had my flu shot this year. 

I anticipate bringing my circle in a little tighter again.  I will be spending lots more time with my little family and preparing for my son and his girlfriend moving back to San Diego by the end of the year.  I anticipate less tip-toeing around what feels safe and being a lot stricter on what I can and can’t do.  There is just too much at stake. 

Time to work on that breathing again—inhale and exhale and doing what I can to keep me and those around me safe.  I will control what I can:  washing my hands, social distancing, wearing a mask and not having any prolonged contact with people.  I haven’t been sick since January.  After spending six months with respiratory illness last year, this is a big deal. 

Mask on, sanitizer ready….tomorrow, I go back in.  (I am breathing).