A chance encounter

Ran into someone this morning from USA Today who got laid off from the newspaper at the same time I did last year. Neither of us previously knew the other had been laid off. We worked in different departments and only crossed paths on rare occasion in an office building that housed hundreds of employees. But seeing a familiar face today from the old stomping grounds was an unexpectedly positive experience.

He was at the paper for 23 years. I was there 13 years. He worked in production. I was an editor in the newsroom. But we were both part of the same overall "family." So when we saw each other in a coffee shop, it was like seeing fellow survivor of a plane crash on a deserted island a year after the wreck. You're just happy to see someone, anyone, alive.

We're both surviving but are without full-time jobs. Sadly, his house was foreclosed upon. I worry about the future every day, of course. Both of us agreed that we lost a part of our identities when we were removed from the family about a year ago. It's natural to feel a loss of more than just income when one loses a long-time job through no fault of their own. We know, in the dying newspaper field, resuming our careers is a long shot.

I think the brief coincidental encounter did both of us some good on another rainy Northern Virginia day. It reminded me that others were cutoff from their friends, livelihoods and identities on that December day in 2008. In some strange way, it was good to reconnect with a person who was in the same downed plane - to see another person on an island that often feels lifeless. From his expressions and body language, I think the feeling was mutual.