My husband’s company informed him last week that his department will work remotely permanently. My resounding “Whoop!” shook the windows. We definitely celebrated this news.
David worked for
fourteen years from the home as a freelance illustrator. During those years, we
loved that our son always came home to a parent in the house. When we decided
to homeschool, my son and I designed his coursework, but David daily donned the
role of teacher. Working from home meant we could back-burn our oldest car and
keep it going for twenty years. It meant I came home to less housework and
cooking because David could wash a load of clothes or run the vacuum when he
took a break. During my breaks from teaching, we slowed the pace of our days—no
alarm clocks all summer long!
The disadvantage for
this type of work, of course, is that it’s a feast-or-famine financial forage.
Income fluctuated dramatically from month to month and contract to contract.
There are no benefits like medical coverage unless you pay out-of-pocket. No
paid vacations. If David didn’t work, he didn’t earn. His parents would get
upset when we couldn’t join the family on one of their various vacations. They
didn’t understand that to go on a trip for a couple of weeks meant we’d have to
have the money saved for both the cost of the vacation plus two weeks’ pay! Because he never knew when the next round of work would surface, we
tried to live as much as possible within my Texas teacher’s low salary.
With David’s current situation, we have the security of a regular salary and benefits coupled with the easier, slower pace that comes from working from home. David’s six-year-old car’s 75,000 odometer reading no longer worries me. The week before last, my mind ran through the scenario that we’d need to replace it long before my 2005 RX8 since David puts more than 1,400 miles a month on it. Now we’ll use it for errands all within ten miles from the house. I’m already only driving the Mazda weekly for a twenty minute spin to keep it running since I no longer need it for the part-time job I worked before COVID-19.
With David’s current situation, we have the security of a regular salary and benefits coupled with the easier, slower pace that comes from working from home. David’s six-year-old car’s 75,000 odometer reading no longer worries me. The week before last, my mind ran through the scenario that we’d need to replace it long before my 2005 RX8 since David puts more than 1,400 miles a month on it. Now we’ll use it for errands all within ten miles from the house. I’m already only driving the Mazda weekly for a twenty minute spin to keep it running since I no longer need it for the part-time job I worked before COVID-19.
We still start our
mornings with an alarm clock, only it’s set at 7:15 instead of 5:15! David
grabs a bowl of cereal and sets up his laptop for the day instead of rushing
out the door for bumper-to-bumper traffic going across San Antonio. His
department took walking breaks twice a day. Now that I can walk again, we’ll do
the same breaks together. We lunch together, too. David eats during one episode of House Hunters-International, and we
admire the adventuresome spirit of the people highlighted.
In all of the financial losses, illnesses and deaths caused by a pandemic, we’ve found our silver lining.
In all of the financial losses, illnesses and deaths caused by a pandemic, we’ve found our silver lining.
Copyright 2020 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman
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