Role reversal keeps family afloat

By Adam Alvarez

Correspondent writer

It would be easy to assume that unemployment would affect, at least to a greater extent, the person that is unemployed. However, the impact such a state has on a family overall cannot be overshadowed. For Sandi Green, her husband’s prolonged struggle with trying to land a job has in many ways turned her life upside down.

“A lot of times it feels like Scott and I have almost traded places,” said Sandi.

In May of 2007, after five years of teaching at Davidsen Middle School and watching her husband hold a seemingly secure job, Sandi quit working in an attempt to spend more time with Jason.

“We were doing alright financially and I didn’t want to be one of those mothers that woke up one morning and realized their child was already an adult,” said Sandi.

For the next three years, Sandi happily took on the role of being a housewife. Between cooking, taking care of Jason and planning weekend activities for the whole family, she admitted her life was even busier and sometimes more hectic than when she was a teacher. Still, it was the life Sandi wanted to live. That was the lifestyle Jason enjoyed.

“We were always going to parks and the beach and I had a lot of fun,” said Jason.

Things began to go so well for the Green family that they were even planning on purchasing a house by the end of 2010.

“Sandi was looking online and getting a gauge of home prices and researching possible neighborhoods that we could move into,” said Scott.

Those dreams, however, ended last December. With Scott losing his job and left to endure a continuing wrath of further rejections, Sandi was quickly forced to think less about family and homes and more about finances.

“It was to the point we couldn’t afford to pay the rent for the apartment,” said Sandi.

After whittling through everything from their savings account to bonds the couple possessed, Sandi was left without a choice.

“I didn’t mind going back to work, but I hated the thought of not being able to spend as much time with Jason because I knew he liked things the way they were,” said Sandi. “I almost felt like I was abandoning him.”

Although her love for teaching is great, Sandi’s love for her family is exponential. That is precisely why she classifies her current position teaching fifth grade students as a temporary cover to the family’s current financial hole.

“I know that one day I'm going to go back to being a housewife," she said.