Folks who are unemployed, or have dealt with being unemployed at any point inside our lives, understand the weekly benefit claims we make either by phone or through the Internet breathing with a sigh of relief at the end of the procedure if the weekly benefit is confirmed. Whew! I will be able to make that car payment or avoid that "shut off" notice from the utility company.

My day to file the claim was on Wednesday between 7am and 6pm. I used to be at my computer at 7am. There was clearly something about being first-in-line that provided another boost of confidence the claim would definitely be authorized (if your State ran out of money) and paid that next business day. Friday was pay-day! The mailman was my mother on Friday. I couldn't help but hum within my head the background music from "Please Mr. Postman".

One fine Wednesday I hit the incorrect radio button on the questionnaire, attemptedto go back and correct it, hit a bad button to go back, and also got locked-out of the site. I think I need to have invented an expletive or two. I spent the following three hours on the telephone just looking to get to a person inside the unemployment office or risk not getting my much-needed check into Friday. One could think the level of anxiety was an indication of a large sum of cash that might not be coming my way. Funny how that actually works when you are unemployed. There appears to be an inverse proportion: small the total amount; the higher the anxiety when that amount is at jeopardy.

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Yep, Unemployment Benefits, or Unemployment Insurance Benefits because the formal name would indicate, is kind of like collecting insurance coverage while still maintaining a pulse because anyone collecting knows well why these benefits are really a life-line between abject poverty and merely making it. Recently, though, it dawned on me after being able to play ball with my children at 4:00pm after they arrived back at school that although we are dreadfully familiar with Unemployment Benefits, I believe we sometimes lose sight of the Benefits of Unemployment. Until you are unemployed I had been working the past five-years 14 hours per day, six and a half days a week,so when I was home I used to be beyond exhausted and often just collapsed to the fetal position. I ended spending time with my wife and kids. I barely saw them let alone interacted with them like a husband and father should. I finished coaching little league as I simply was without the time and barely appeared for their games. I really didn't know who their teachers were and unless there is a concern of significance, I had no idea how they were performing in school. No school plays. No Parent-Teacher conferences. The term for those times was "No"! There is simply "No" time! I had no idea the things they ate for supper as well as the types of snacks they enjoyed. I used to be singularly focused.

A few things i have started to realize is always that while Unemployment Insurance Benefits are there to ensure you don't starve physically, some great benefits of Unemployment Insurance exist to make sure you do not starve emotionally. I now understand the names of most my kids' teachers (there can be a couple of). I know whatever they each take for lunch and also the do's and don'ts regarding their snacks. I understand names of the kids that bug them each day. I personally know where their classrooms are and have been to every school performance that has occurred within the last year and three months. I do not remember ever spending as much time with my wife as I have these past 15 months and you also understand what? I like her. Sounds strange, right? All of us love our spouses but will we enjoy them? I prefer meeting her with an afternoon mug of coffee, or meeting smack during the day for some frozen yogurt on the mall. We've even caught the matinee ( a whole lot cheaper you know than through the evening hours or weekends) at the local theatre. After almost 26 many years of marriage I really like spending time with my partner. I'd almost forgotten what that has been like.

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Now, don't misunderstand me. Being unemployed, living week to week on the very small paycheck while facing a property foreclosure rather than getting any bites on your job search, just isn't exactly Huxley's Brave New World. I do not wish this upon anyone (well that is not entirely true with there being some individuals who I would wish this upon but that is for my next article called "How to Tame Your Enemies"). Unemployment is really as much a psychological hardship as it is an economic one. However, I cannot change what exactly is. All I can control is when I react to the proverbial cards I'm dealt. It could become a crying shame when we lose home and require to try to get Food Stamps however it will be an even greater shame if these hardship didn't use a positive influence on one's perspective on life in order that one a minimum of attempts to make that happen perfect balance between Unemployment Benefits and the Benefits of Unemployment.