Welcome to the first day of the rest of your new life, again.

Hello hello! Please imagine that I said that in a British accent with a great deal of enthusiasm. Thank you.

As this is my first post, I think it's a good idea to give a little background. This past May I graduated from a college with a degree and that was pretty nice. Immediately after that, I got an internship in New Paltz, NY doing all sorts of research and writing on some real bad ass ladies of Huguenot Street. When I wasn't doing that, I acted retired. You know, the general waking up early, going for morning strolls. Sipping on fine Italian espresso and reading outdoors. Occasionally calling up the grandchildren to see if they wanted to come over for cookies and Scrabble. The last part isn't true, but I do enjoy cookies and Scrabble.

Then, the internship ended and I got a job. Yes, a legitimate, 45 hours per week, benefits, the whole shebang type of job. Like any fresh-out-of-college young adult, I was feeling rather pleased with myself. And also, with the thought of a paycheck. A month passed. I was fitting in well, chatting with my co-workers about this "totally outrageous customer," drinking black coffee out of paper cups, and making plans for after-work happy hour someday, sometime. I was well on my way to becoming a fine business woman.

Then last week I had an email in my Outlook that was titled, "Mandatory Communication." I thought to myself, "Hm, that's vague." But, nearly everyone around me had received the same email that we were to meet in the back room at 4:45pm for this "Mandatory Communication," so I thought nothing of it. I even brought my notepad to the meeting, because I'm diligent like that.

We got to the meeting and a nice woman with a thick Polish accent, staring down, clicking away at her Blackberry for the duration of the one-way conversation said, "I am not here with good news. Revenuebudgetsfinancesblahblahsorry all of your jobs have been terminated."

Shit. What? Shit. Shitshitshitshit. (That's what I wrote on my notepad. Again, because of the diligence.)

Boom. Bam. Bent. Over.

Here I am, I thought, 22, been here a little over a month, and have now been laid off. Already. Some people burst out in angry fits, demanding answers, explanations. Some people began to cry. I understood both reactions. I turned to my now ex-co-workers and said, "Want to go get a drink or maybe several drinks?" We got those drinks. Myself and a good portion of the 55 other people who had their jobs taken away that day. Recessions, right? Whaddayagonnado?

We sat at the bar, drinking, laughing at what had just happened because really what else could we do? That was when I saw the upside to all of this. If not that job, then another job. Right? Remember that degree you got, Gab? You still care about that.

I do still care about that. So, I guess what I'm half scratching at enough to leave a red mark but not enough to break the skin is that it's all going to be alright. Something will happen because it has to. Being one of several people who recently graduated and seemingly don't stand a chance, I feel like there has to be other people out there who get what I'm talking about. The world is so huge. We are so small. I think we'll all find a place to settle in if we want to enough. At least for like, a month or so, in my experience.