A Letter to the Editor...
This weekend is unlike most I have had in the recent past. I just returned home from dinner at my in-laws with my two children, and while I enjoyed it, it was much different than my husband and I would have shared a few months ago…drinks and dinner together to rejuvenate ourselves… “our couple time” with one another. Why? Because today, while our in-laws watched our children, my husband and I went to his office where I helped him work on a presentation that he will give this week in hopes to bring him more business. Afterward, we went to the grocery store together sans children with our coupons and calculator and carefully shopped for our family of four in hopes that decreasing our grocery budget would mean that I can still stay at home and raise our children.

Our children: The foundation of our future. Our sweet little girl is 2.5 years old and our son is 4 months. We had a dream and a plan that I would put aside my career to use the knowledge from my education and decade of work to teach and love our children, in what some call "the old-fashioned way"…from the home without daycare. My husband, a commercial real estate mortgage broker, earned a respectable income that allowed this, and we (thank God, literally) planned for the future with it. We have saved for our retirement in multiple accounts; we have 529s for each child; and have a savings account for “just in case.” Little did we know that October would happen and “just in case” would come to no fault of my husband’s hard and ethical work.

Ironically, when I began writing this, the two documents that were already up on my computer were my resume and our family’s new budget. I have spent the last week contacting former colleagues and bosses, reaching out to those who might have part time consulting or freelance writing work for me. I have battled myself so frequently in my head and heart during the last two weeks that I am dizzy. I can’t be selfish because so many people are far worse off than my family. So, what if I go back to work part time? I was going too eventually, anyway. Right? I loved my career, and I was good, so maybe now is the time to re-engage in the rat race. Or, maybe now is not the time. Who will take care of my children the way I do? No one. Not the best trained or the highest paid because they won’t be me. Getting dizzy yet?

Then I read the article in Sunday’s Dallas Morning News, “Banks with Windfall are reluctant to lend it,” and my dizziness and anger spiraled. Why is the government giving hundreds of billions of dollars to banks that have yet to plan how they will spend it? Why are they being granted multi-million dollar reprieves and not planning to put this money back into the market to help stimulate the economy? I am disappointed in the congress who allowed this bailout with no strings attached and am disappointed in the bank executives for not seeing the big picture of how this money will help thousands if used wisely. Why are the banks not lending the money to qualified borrowers: commercial or not? Devise a plan for goodness sakes.

I have been watching CNN all weekend, riveted to the news of the inauguration and hoping that a new president’s “hope” and “change” will inspire everyone to think about more than what lines their own pockets. I saved the Sunday paper to place in my children’s keepsake boxes so that they may see the news of the first African-American to be elected and serve as President of the United States. What glory. What inspiration.

My hope is that a few months from now, I am still teaching my daughter her letters and numbers, myself; still teaching my son to sit and crawl, myself; still saving the paper to show my children what a wonderful country we live in. I hope I am still the full-time primary care-giver of my children and able to watch all of their “firsts.” Please congress, please Mr. President, attach some strings to the money being thrown around…strings are certainly attached for the rest of us Americans.

Why am I writing this and sending a "letter to the editor"? Well, I was online this weekend, checking out a popular talk show host's Web site. Interestingly enough, the host is calling for people to write to her who have lost their jobs because of the economy. At first, I didn't think this applied to me, but then I had a new perspective. I am loosing my job as a full-time, stay-at-home mom. I wonder what other perspectives exist out there? And are any decision makers listening to them?