The thrill of the hunt???

  It finally happened. After fourteen years with the same company, my spouse quit his job. I am actually surprised he finally did it. He's complained for years, tolerated phone calls on his cell phone on, nights, weekends, holidays, and vacations; and put in way more than forty hours in any given week. Finally, the company was bought out and a series of layoffs ensued. People were leaving in droves. He even put up with a large pay cut to keep his job. What was the straw that broke the camel's back? My belief is that there were two things, one he married and the other he fathered.
  I decided to  drag him to marriage counseling because I was pretty much at my wits end. I am not very good at subtlety, which is ok, since he's pretty obtuse. What's not ok is my lack of tact, so I called in the cavalry. There's no polite way to say "I'm contemplating a divorce, how's your day going?" Like any normal guy, he found this upsetting. The other reason is now almost ten years old and finishing the fourth grade. We had her tested officially for Add and as part of the initial interview process, the specialist noted that she is "not close to her father". For some reason, my husband took this personally.
   "I'm a weekend Dad!" he said. I'm all for more Daddy and daughter time. I think this was just the result of me naturally being home as a stay at home parent.  Truthfully, I will be looking forward to getting some bonus help around the house. It will also come in handy for other things like doctor's appointments and the summer.
   Things have to get pretty bad at a person's job for him to quit without another one lined up. When he informed me that he'd been having chest pains at work on top of this, I knew this qualified. We were lucky that we were never the sort to live from paycheck to paycheck. Thankfully, after some harassment, he got himself checked out by our family doctor, who informed him it was stress related.
   What's weird is now we, or mostly, he is dealing with a different kind of stress. On his last day at work, his colleagues told him he looked happier than he had in months. Being at home now, I think, has left him feeling irritable. It's going to be an adjustment for all of us. Personally, I can see plenty of upsides. He needs to get reacquainted with his daughter, and his wife, who, incidentally, could always use a hand dealing with said daughter. He is also going to have to figure out who he is now. How much of your identity, dear reader, is tied to your job, and how do you handle it when it's not there anymore?