Oilfield Crisis
11:33 PM
You know the saying "two steps forward, three steps back"?
What about "two steps forward, five thousand twenty eight hundred steps back"?
Probably not. Unless you are one of the most unluckiest people in the world.
Like me.
We closed on our house three weeks ago. And on that three week anniversary my fiance got laid off. This would be yesterday. Fuck. My. Life.
We haven't even gotten our first bills in. To say that we are freaking out is quite the understatement. I had no idea what we were doing even before this happened. What most people don't understand is that Louisiana is at 80% oilfield based. Every one and their grandma works in the oil field. My self included.
For the oilfield to go back up it needs to be over $70.00 a barrel. However it is roughly around $45.00. I read an article that it is expected to continue to go down and wont come back up till the end of the decade. Almost everyone I know if suffering the impact of this. Sure gas prices are down. But I'd gladly pay the high gas prices to see the oilfield come back up. (I'd never thought I'd say that)
The one thing that I can say about my fiance is that he did not waste time. He printed out 10 resumes last night and started handing them out today. Fingers crossed that he gets something next week. At least we had a back up plan in place. He was a pharmacy technician at his previous job and he kept his certification for this purpose exactly. He also worked 1 day a month to be kept on payroll. So he requested more hours and it may help us from defaulting on our loan.
So here is the plan. It's a little confusing so try and keep up.
1. Marriage:
Yes ... you read that right. Marriage. Along with loosing his job yesterday, he also lost his insurance. The only way to afford insurance is to get on with me at my job. The only way to do that is get married. So shot gun wedding it is. Not my ideal situation but be that as it may we have no choice. Paul (My fiance) and I have our 8 year anniversary next week. No better time than that. So we have our date. I had a knee length..ish.. white dres I bought at sears a few months back that will have to stand in. Geeze.. this sounds like a scene right out of "My Big Bumpkin Wedding".
But I'm not worried about it. I don't want this to be a "thing". If its a "thing" it will be depressing and sad. It's going to be a simple justice of the peace. We applied for our marriage licence this afternoon. Simple. Only for legalities. This is not a wedding. My wedding will be like I've been planning for the last 5 years (the length of this engagement). Just...not immediately.
This will be a elegant beautiful humble wedding.
Right?
2. File for unemployment:
Just until he can get something else. Technically he had a second job but anytime you get a drastic pay cut or hourly cut you can qualify even if you still have your original job. This will help us make ends meet. Barely... I hope.
3. Apply. Apply. Apply.
We are applying everywhere. Even if he doesn't qualify. There is still a chance and Its all how you pitch it. With enough determination and a bit of charm anything is possible.
4. Keep it together:
Probably the hardest step. With my high anxiety I've shocked myself by how calm I'm taking this. Paul seems to be the one freaking out and hardly keeping it together. Usually he is my rock but it seems that in this case I have to be his. I'm glad our relationship is strong enough to make it through all these ups and downs. Its still early but I hope that we can keep it up.
If we can make it through these Hiccups. I'm quite sure that we can make it through anything.
Oh did I mention that there is a hurricane coming???
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