Planning a Life

We've started to talk about budget stuff.  Originally, we'd thought he would continue to teach part time and work another part time job while (theoretically) writing his dissertation.  But God has intervened.  The college where he's been teaching is reallocating their classes and giving their full time professors a heavier load, so it's by no means certain that he'll be able to teach with them this fall.  And the bookstore where he's been working part time is closing--the parent company declared bankruptcy, and his store is part of the fallout.  Of course, he could find something.  (One of the things I love about him is that he's not above working a humble job--he doesn't think he has to hold out for the perfect job.  He realizes that he needs to be working, and a job is a job, and if that means he mops floors, then so be it.)  But the truth is, it's hard for him to work part time and write his dissertation.  Especially since part time jobs tend to be a few hours several days a week, rather than a full day twice a week.  And once you head off to work, put in a four hour shift, and come home, well, it kinda puts a chink in your whole day.  So now we're wondering if this is God's way of clearing his schedule to work on the dissertation full time for a while.  After all, better to do it now than later when there may be children or who knows what all in the picture.  And the sooner he gets it done, the sooner he can apply for a full time position doing what he loves. 

So the new tentative plan is for him to spend the summer writing his dissertation.  If he has a draft ready by fall, then he can spend the fall getting the draft finalized with his advisor person (not sure what the technical term is) and applying for jobs and maybe working part time somewhere.  Then come spring, he can defend his dissertation and start interviewing for jobs (again, while theoretically working part time somewhere).  Neither of us sees it as ideal for me to be supporting us, but hopefully we'd just be living off my income for a few months, then he can start helping out with part time work, either in some sort of lower skilled job (retail, whatever) or by teaching a couple classes.

I was encouraged by our ability to work through this challenge.  We discussed it openly and calmly, and we both agreed that for me to be the only breadwinner long term would be unacceptable.  And honestly, while he is fine with me making more money than he does, he doesn't like the idea of me making all the money.  So the fact that I am supporting us may provide an additional catalyst for productivity, since he (like me) tends to procrastinate.