Relief.

I have a confession to make.  This last month and a half has kind of sucked.  We have been really tight on money because..Zak actually was fired in December.  Here's the thing.  There were two stores in town, and Zak was the only one working at both stores.  So that was a bit difficult, to make sure his schedule was correct at both places.  But I guess what happened was..he hadn't signed up for a ton of shifts in December, because he figured we were going to be moving and packing.  We had his shifts written on the calendar, but I guess he missed one that he didn't even know about.  So that was that.  It's irritating because it's kind of happened before--he has almost missed a shift because the managers changed something around and it's hard to make both schedules work.  I wanted to go in and tell the manager off because it sucked-Zak was a good worker, and his co-workers really liked him, he was good at the job, etc.  But whatever.

January didn't go as smoothly as planned.  He applied to many, many places, on-line, in person, telephone, all that stuff.  He was constantly checking craigslist for new posts, e-mailing people, calling places he had applied.  He was very dedicated and I am very proud of him.  It just sucks out here to get a job, it really does.  (I won't delve into the issue of how I was usurped for a job I was perfect for: the school's art gallery assistant.  I had a great interview, perfect schedule, it'd be good for future jobs, etc.  But nope.)  We had enough money to cover rent for January and February, but then it was going to be rough.  Every day was more miserable than the last.  We were both getting really depressed.  It's not like he wasn't trying, there just were no jobs.  It was frustrating because he has a good resume, work ethic, personality, but none of that seemed to make a difference.  We were on the brink of confessing to our parents that we would probably need help paying rent, when a prayer was answered.

Zak texted me during my art class to tell me he had a job interview in Idaho Falls on Monday at 3.  He picked me up from school, I grabbed some food and we drove down there.  He looked very handsome in his suit, and it turns out he was the best dressed guy in the room. :)  The manager told Zak to call back at 5:30 that night, so he did.  And it turns out that he got the job!!  He is a Kirby vacuum salesman or something now.  Today was his first day of work.  I guess he and a group of 5-6 others go to houses, ask to do a demo, and throw the sales pitch.  It's more money than he was making at Horkley's + commission, so that's great.  And there are offices around the country, so it could be profitable in the future.

It was the biggest relief when Zak hung up the phone.  I jumped into his arms, crying.  We had both been so depressed and unlucky, that it was kind of hard to believe our fortune had changed.  I noticed today how happy I was, despite the fact that we had to wake up a bit earlier than normal, I had to walk to school in the snow and ice with all my art crap, and be home alone for awhile.  But yeah, it's been a good week.