When Ken called me two weeks ago and told me he had lost his job--where he had worked for over 12 years as our family's sole breadwinner--there was a split second when I saw our family's lives flash before my eyes. Okay, maybe it was more like a good 30 minutes, from the time I got the news, called my mom and cried and panicked, to when I gathered the kids to go and pick up Ken. Either way, it was the longest split second of my life. In it, I saw us losing everything. I saw us standing in lines at soup kitchens and food pantries....

I started the week by filing my unemployment claim for the day I went unpaid.  I read afterward that I can only claim whole weeks at a time.  Oh well.  I noted in the claim that I had been paid for 4 days of the week.  I think I'm good. After getting a few hot tips from some fellow ex-employees of Intel (also ex-military), I registered and submitted a few applications for civilian IT jobs posted for Fort Lewis. They...

Wednesday, October 15th: I had a meeting with my manager, where I was told that I would no longer be returning to Intel. Thursday, October 16th: My first day with no work. A check was delivered to our front door, representing the money I was owed which was not paid for by the next day's check. I signed up for unemployment benefits online, and began trying to figure out what I would be doing next. Friday, October 17th: The last paycheck was deposited.  Luckily, there was still money going to my landlord for rent. ...