newbuzz...There are some things you expect to happen when you lose your job. Things like losing your insurance, loss of, or decrease in income. You know you will feel sad, uncertain, even angry at times. My husband and I have experienced all of these as we have both lost our jobs due to economic lay offs. But, there has been a silver lining in this gray cloud too. Now we have a better awareness of our finances and our future goals than ever before. We have always been aware of what we are doing, but in the race to get three students through college, we have been avoiding some of the hard questions that should be answered periodically. Do we need to buy this right now? Can we pay back this debt? What if we lose our jobs? Those questions are pushed to the forefront when you are facing the extreme income reduction of two lost jobs in one family. We have taken off our rose colored glasses, and looked at everything with our eyes wide open. We have identified waste as well as necessity. We have come up with a strategy to work through these difficult days. We will have to go without some things we have been accustomed to, and fore go eating out, movies, and such. In exchange, we have gained a new teamwork mentality that is good for our marriage as well as our finances. We know what we can do without and what we would like to work toward for the future. We have lost our naive security, but we have gained characteristics that will buoy us through hard times and profit us in times of plenty. We know that we need to direct our own future and not leave financial decisions to chance or to others. We have hard work ahead, but we have the tools we need to dig deep and get through the rubble.