"Guest Post" - Eight Years in the Making

I am publishing this post with permission of the author, Peggy Lee Hanson, who featured it on her blog several days ago (see credits below). Today is the 47th anniversary of the Great Northeast Blackout, during which my mother died, my own personal 9/11.

I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did.

I didn’t lose my job yesterday, it actually happened on 9-11

 

Have you seen the movie Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close about a young boy who lost his father in the Twin Towers on that fateful morning in September 2001? He’s trying to make sense of a senseless act.

While watching the movie, memories of that terrible and fateful day came flooding back to me. They were memories of how my boss (I was working for Northwest Airlines who merged with Delta a few years ago) didn’t believe me when I told her a plane had struck one of the towers; of how I walked into the video room and eventually into a coworker's cubicle who had a small-screen television on. Those huddled around watched in disbelief the second plane smash into the other tower. And then for the next five days, hearing the silence in the sky; no planes taking off or landing; no white trails of jets tracing lines in the blue sky above. It was a type of eerie or scary feeling that might occur around Halloween.

As I continued watching the Tom Hanks movie, the title of this post came barreling into my mind. I went to sleep with the words on my mind and I woke in the same manner. I couldn’t shake them, so it was time to get up and write down those words and thoughts to quiet the banging and get them out of my head.

I was amazed at the simple truth it carried; the job loss I experienced took eight years in the making!

But then, logic returned and I remembered that 9-11 wasn’t the beginning of the economic downtown; it was already happening earlier in the year; in fact, March 2001 had been when the first of the layoffs came, and they continued well after Northwest and Delta airlines officially merged in 2009.

My fate had been etched during those years; perhaps yours was too.

I am beginning to believe that events happen to put things right, to put us on our right path. That belief has helped me make sense of the things that don’t make sense, much like Oskar tried to do in the movie. He did lose something very close to him, but he also gained.

I stand with Oskar.

To your success,
PeggyLee

“My life story is the story of everyone I've ever met.” ~Jonathan Safran Foer

 

Want To Reprint this article? You may do so as long as you leave it intact and include this author information:
Peggy Lee Hanson, personal transition guide and mentor, is expert at compassionately helping those suffering loss of any proportion, especially through unemployment. Using proven strategies and support, she teaches how to move quickly and easily through current or impending life-changing moments so that you can have the life you are meant -- and deserve -- to live.
PeggyLee is a Speaker, Best-selling author on Amazon.com, Certified Dream Coach® & Group Leader®, Trained True Purpose Coach®, and CEO and Founder of MyDreamArchitect.com, a subsidiary of Personal Transition Guidance, LLC. Also, Peggy Lee has co-facilitated mastermind groups and appeared as a regular columnist for online communities. She is a member of Toastmasters International.
Follow her at PeggyLeeHanson on Twitter and Facebook. You may also subscribe to her blog and newsletter.