Rebuilding after Financial Crisis and Bankruptcy in a Recession (Part 2)

This is an ongoing post in the series Surviving the Lien Years - Rebuilding after Financial Crisis and Bankruptcy in a Recession.   The Early Years is part two of the series.

Mr. Right, who shall forever be called Lee (since that is his name), and I married straight out of college.  Actually, he wound up needing 2 more quarters before graduating.  Schools in Georgia were on the quarter not semester system in the 80’s and early 90’s.  He had taken 2 quarters off to work and earn enough money to pay for college.  We both worked 2 part time jobs at one time in college to earn money to pay for our education and expenses.  Lee’s jobs were at Pizza Hut and a company that did corporate picnics around the eastern US.  Mine were at Radio Shack and at computer labs on campus.  I was fortunate because my parents to pay for much of my tuition and room and board but there were still a lot expenses.  Lee had scholarships and took out student loans to pay for much of his.

When we married and graduated, there was a recession happening in our country as well.  We were married in 1992 and looked for our first “real” or “career” jobs in 1993.  On a leap of faith, we decided to leave Athens, where our alma mater the University of Georgia (and our apartment) was located to move to Atlanta without having jobs lined up at all.

I remember distinctly, the night I told Lee my plans to move and asked for his buy in.  I went to Pizza Hut where he was working and waited for him to drive up from a delivery.  I said, “Let’s just go ahead and move.  Something will work out for us.  I have prayed about this and think we should.”  I pointed out I was interviewing intensively and knew I could fall back on Radio Shack if needed.  Lee knew he could fall back on Pizza Hut and the picnic job. Lee agreed.  The next day we were giving our 2 week notices, lining up U-Hauls, and packing our things.  Luckily, within 2 weeks of making the decision to move, I had several interviews and 2 job offers.  I started my first career job at The Mead Corporation, Containerboard Division the day after Labor Day in September of 1993.

My job required travel and lots of it.  It had been described as travel 80% of the time but in reality it was 100% travel with about 1 Friday afternoon a month in the home office in Atlanta to turn in my expense report.  I traveled Sunday or Monday through Friday for 2 ½ years.  Then I changed positions so I was traveling 2 out of 4 weeks for the last 6 months I was at Mead.  I supported the computer systems at a paper mill in Stevenson, Alabama.  It was certainly not a glamorous job but it was stepping stone in the right direction.

Lee’s career job turned out to be in the warehouse of the company where he did the picnics.  He worked in the warehouse Monday through Friday, where he was Assistant Warehouse Manager and quickly promoted to Warehouse Manager.  Friday through Sunday April through October he traveled across the US setting up picnics.

During the weekends he traveled in 1994, I began volunteering on political campaigns.  I met my Congressman Newt Gingrich, Minority Whip of the US House of Representatives.  I met Sen. Dick Chenney while Newt was giving a speech at a BBQ Fundraiser in an airplane hanger in Marietta, Georgia.  The speech was about this thing called “The Contract with America” and it had 10 points that the Republicans were promising the American people.  I enjoyed the volunteering and was a bit star struck meeting these people who were US Representatives and Senators.  I thought Newt’s message was good.

Now that we had the career jobs and I had found something to do with my time on the weekends, our next goal was to purchase a house.  After all, it is the American Dream to own your own home.  We saved every penny.  As Republicans won the elections in November of 1994 to take control of the US Senate and the US House, Lee and I were closing on our own deal to take control of our first house.

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