Goodbye for now

When I responded to a craigslist ad looking for cab drivers in the Chicago suburbs, our family was in increasingly desperate financial straits. I thought my unemployment benefits were about to run out and I was looking for something, anything, to pay some bills and help us stay afloat. I knew next to nothing about driving a taxi.

In an initial conversation with someone at the dispatch office, I learned that to become a regular driver, I’d have to watch a video, complete some on-the-job training, pass an exam and pay a whopping $450 DOLLAR A WEEK cab lease!

I hadn’t planned on that last part.

I had immediate doubts about whether it made sense to go forward. But then, we got some unexpected news. My final unemployment check showed up and it wasn’t, in fact, the final check. My benefits had been extended another twenty weeks.

So I consulted Taxi Wife and we decided I should give the cab thing a go. Perhaps, we thought, I could drive enough hours to pay the lease and bring in a couple hundred extra bucks.

It seemed plausible. I was determined to make it work. But a little over two months into the adventure, the writing was on the wall. Any visions I had of a wallet, stuffed with cash, were, well, just that–visions.

So a little over two weeks ago, I said goodbye to taxi driving.

On the surface, little has changed. Our family’s financial situation is as difficult today as it was the day I picked up my first passenger. My job prospects seem almost as bleak. But something is different. Something inside me changed when I got behind the wheel of that taxi and began writing. I felt less alone, less afraid of the future, more connected to my creative core, an essential part of who I am that I’d allowed to wither under the depressing weight of long-term unemployment.

It’s precisely those core parts of ourselves–and doing whatever we have to do to hold on to them–that help us summon the will to stand and fight in a crisis.

I’d kinda forgotten that. Recession Taxi helped me remember.

I want to stop here and offer thanks and huge hugs to family and friends who made donations to the site. The money helped pay the Fleet Master on a few, very thin weeks. I also want to thank everyone who read my posts and took the time to comment, even once.

I’m busy pitching freelance pieces left and right and am also brainstorming on an idea for a new blog. I hope to have more on that soon.

In the meantime, best wishes for a wonderful, peaceful holiday season and thanks for reading.