On the Judge’s order I had been waiting in the office of the local technical college school counselor, Brian Thomas, for about 15 minutes. Enough time to read his degrees on the wall.
The door has opened and Thomas headed straight for his desk. He had a water bottle in one hand and paper in the other and shut the door with his foot. Smiling with bushy eyebrows that raised up and lowered with his smile. He at once apologized for being late. “Jillie is it?”
“Yes.” “Well, that is unusual.” He gave me a hmmm-what-do-we-have here head tilt. “Well, actually it is Jill but it is a nickname cause I could’nt say it when I was little. “Oh, so you have a lot of family here,” said Brian.
I always hate this question. It is uncomfortable for everyone when I say, No.
“Actually, I have no close family left just my adult Daughter.” ‘Oh, Geeze I’m sorry.” Brian’s head went down and he shuffled through some paper on his desk. “Let me look at your application here.”
“Oh, well I see that you should start in the … he squinted his eyes at the paper…Displaced Homemaker Program.”
“What?” I questioned. He continued. “Yes, the Displaced Homemaker Program. It is for a displaced homemaker. Someone who, after serving as an unpaid Homemaker for many years is forced to join the paid workforce due to a Separation, Divorce, Disability or Death of a Spouse or Significant other.
I hung my head, as a tear rolled down my face. “Gawd, I’m sorry Jillie, “he muttered.
It was the best of times and the worst of times, but it was the only time I knew….being homemaker. Now the title feels like a cold dark lake. I do not what to plunge in there–you have no idea what kind of bacteria is lurking around.
Displaced, is a gawd awful word. Roof tiles are displaced when dislodged from a Tornado!
And that is exactly how I felt when my daughter had the nerve to grow up and leave. Suddenly, I had the urge to jump out of my chair run to the Grocery store and buy a Family Pack just for ole time’s sake.
How to you just turned it off? I do not get it. Being a homemaker was all I know.
There is symbolism here with being a DISPLACED HOMEMAKER.