Sweet Thoughts for Sweet Girl.....

If you can spare some time to send some positive vibes in the direction of Florida in the next few days, I'd be mighty appreciative.

Sweet Girl has a lead on a job that's actually A) in the field she trained in with the Navy; and B) related to the degree she's working toward.

I haven't talked a lot about it because it's too painful (and I didn't want to embarrass her), but Sweet Girl is out of the Navy. Not by her own choice either. She missed the cut-off score on her promotion exam by half a point. Half. A. Point. So the Navy said (politely, I'm sure) they didn't need her services anymore, and they turned her loose.

We could talk all day about the fact that Sweet Girl bears some of the responsibility herself that she's no longer in the Navy, but the bottom line is that she spent eight years in service, did two tours in the Persian Gulf aboard an aircraft carrier, volunteered to help in rescue efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which meant she worked some 18-hour days, and now she can't even get them to finish her evaluation (started last April) so she can find out if she's eligible for the Reserves.

Exasperating.

She's sort of stuck. Not even "sort of." She's just stuck. On the good side, she's going to school on the G.I. Bill, and the V.A. is still giving her a housing allowance. As long as she remains a FULL TIME STUDENT. You know how hard it is to get a full-time job if you're a full-time student? (You know how hard it is to get a full-time job PERIOD?) I guess she could take a job in fast food or something like that, but she would have to give up her full-time student status to accommodate a working schedule, and ... I'm just guessing here ... I doubt the fast food industry would pay her enough to make up for the housing allowance she would lose.

Add to that the fact that Sweet Girl bought her condo just BEFORE the housing market (and the rest of the economy) went bust. She bought the condo in September of 2007 and left on a not-pleasure cruise to the Persian Gulf two months later. By the time her ship got TO the Persian Gulf, her condo wasn't even worth what she had paid for it. Even if she DID want to swallow her pride and come home (she doesn't), she is stuck with this condo that she can (almost) pay for but can't sell. Meanwhile the units all around her are being sold or abandoned, so I'm guessing the value of her condo is going to continue to drop.

So she's searching for jobs, taking more courses than she has to, reluctantly drawing unemployment, pinching pennies, and holding her breath every day. What she's NOT doing is sitting in a park somewhere protesting.

Her job options are somewhat limited in that she can't relocate, going back to the whole condo situation. I think she's burned out on the whole home ownership concept, and I don't blame her. She kicks herself for having bought the condo, but her only fault in that is not having been able to see into the future. She isn't one of those who bought far beyond her means or bought a handful of houses just because she could. She thought she was going to have a career in the Navy, and she had every right to believe her condo would be nearly paid for by the time she left.

Sigh.

So I'm keeping my fingers crossed. She had a telephone interview on Friday with a man from an aviation company close to her, and he said he "might" call her back tomorrow for an in-person interview.

I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope  I hope I hope I hope I hope I hope.

If you could send her some good thoughts, she (and I) would appreciate it. We will even consider incantations and voodoo. We're desperate here.