Newly Unemployed

[MadinMo]

Well, I officially joined the ranks of the unemployed on Friday. My boss told me they are eliminating my position. I've been in that job for 24.98 (according to the official paperwork) years -- or exactly 2 weeks shy of 25 years. As you can imagine this was a blow. They claimed they looked for something for me within the company (very large company) and couldn't find anything. They've been laying off people almost weekly since late November. Prior to this, my boss had told our group that we were in better shape than the rest of the company....... I guess that must not be true any more.

I've cried buckets and feel betrayed and dismissed, but I'm coming to terms with it somewhat.

MrMadinMO is retired from teaching so we have income from that state retirement fund. I will be able to take early retirement from this employer and hopefully that paltry sum will help.

The biggest worry I/we have is about medical insurance. MrMadinMo and I are mid-50s, we have 2 16 year olds at home, and medical insurance is a necessity. I will be able to COBRA the insurance we have had to date, and I don't know what this is going to cost but I've heard COBRA is very expensive.

For those of you who have had to find medical insurance outside of work, what have you opted to do?

This is a real bummer. Thank goodness there is only about 36 months left on the mortgage. And I guess MrMadinMO and/or I can always bite the bullet and get a job and McDs or WalMart. However, I think I would not be able to bear it if one of my previous co-workers came in and saw me doing that.