After the December 2008 GMA piece in which I appeared as one of five workers newly laid off as a result of the dawning financial crisis, we were told there would be a followup a few months later to see how we were doing. The producer called me in the spring and said that they wanted to get us together again, but then the piece was postponed. Finally, last Saturday, the producer called me and said they were ready to tape the followup interview. Immediately.
Update: This must be how it feels to be droogie, hitting the Rec list within minutes of posting! With a lump in my throat, I humbly thank you all.
Update 2: Thanks to jimstaro for embedding the video below. Thanks to statsone for the link. And a big thank you to Diane Sawyer for following up on our stories and for being so gracious. In both pieces, she stressed that we were good people any employer would be lucky to have. That's class!
So much has happened in my life since that piece aired. I haven't written much about what I've been going through, as I found that focusing on Press the Face was more uplifting than running on about my problems.
Since I was laid off nearly a year ago I fell so behind on my mortgage that my house went into foreclosure. I grappled with my alternatives: take in a roommate, rent out the house and move to a small apartment, rent out the house and move to my mother's farm in Indiana, sell the house and move? As time went by and no jobs were forthcoming, I made the painful decision to sell my house on Staten Island and move to my mother's farm in Indiana. With no income beyond unemployment, I saw no hope in trying to remain in New York, especially since keeping my son in private school was out of the question. The house finally sold, but once I paid the fees and arrears I was left with a fraction of what my realtor made in the deal--which, I hasten to acknowledge, was a great deal better than nothing, and was infinitely better than having to do a short sale or deed-in-lieu.
On the personal front, once it became clear that I had to move I also had to break up with my boyfriend, the New York cop. Despite the fact that he was a Republican I was devastated, and every now and then while I'm drying the tears from my pillow I chafe at the notion that external social and political circumstances, rather than personal preference, largely determined the outcome of my relationship. And, as things apparently weren't dire enough, my son's father, from whom I've been divorced for several years, was laid off from his job three days before we moved. Determined to remain in our son's life, he packed up and followed us to Indiana, settling into a small apartment in a town about 20 miles from our farm.
My son was heartbroken to leave his friends and his school. He spent the greater part of the summer immersed in video games, and when school started in Indiana on the unearthly date of August 10, I was afraid he would have a very rough time. To my relief, he seemed to accept his new routine quickly, and though he still isn't completely assimilated, he is solidly on his way.
When the producer from GMA called last week and asked how my life was going, I told her all this. She was fascinated by the fact that when last we spoke I was living in New York City, and now I am living in a farmhouse literally in the middle of a cornfield. She initially offered to fly me to NYC for the interview, but when she called back Saturday she said she would send a film crew from the local ABC affiliate to my house to tape me and the corn.
Yesterday the film crew arrived. They set up the cameras and lights in my living room and sat me down in front of a black screen thay had draped against one wall. After the 20-minute interview, which was conducted by phone by the producer (not Diane Sawyer), the crew spent several hours filming around my house. They even waited until my son got home from school so they could film him getting off the bus. They had wanted to go to his school and film him sitting in his classroom, but the assistant principal said that they would have to obtain releases from the parents of all the kids who appeared on camera before they could give permission to film.
So here it is: my second appearance on GMA. As before, my only hope is that I don't look and sound like a complete dork. I am now at the mercy of the video editor and the possibility that a catastrophic news event will postpone the piece as it did the first time. Wish me luck!