All in one day

I can remember May 15th very well.  I don't usually carry my cell phone but that day I did.  I was on pins and needles waiting for Keith to call. Keith says now that all 63 employees were walking around the dealership looking out the windows for the FedEx truck.  It always came twice a day, once in the morning for pick up and in the afternoon for delivery. The atmosphere was tense and every one was anxious.  They kept asking each other "Have you heard anything?".
By mid-afternoon I had not heard anything from Keith.  People kept asking me "Have you heard?". I finally walked into the staff restroom and called him.  He said something like the truck came and there was no letter.  Reports were coming to them by word-of-mouth in the car world that some dealers already had their letters but there was nothing official being said.  We all felt that we made it through! It was such relief - just like knowing some cuts will happen at your workplace and it isn't you.  You are sad for those cut but extremely glad that you were spared.
So, no letter, back to business as usual.
Within an hour, I was asked to step in and see the principal.  She sat beside me instead of behind her desk and asked about word on the dealer cuts and I was so glad to give her the good news.
I was caught off-guard when she then told me how sorry she was to tell me that I was being pink slipped! The school system was laying off a certain number of employees at the end of the school year and I was near the bottom of the list in seniority.  She said that she talked to Human Services and told them about the bad timing of this day in particular but was told that it would be public knowledge at the end of the day and I had to be notified.  She said that he offered to come over and tell me himself but she declined.
I knew cuts were maybe coming.  It happened frequently.  It also happens that the employee gets called back the week before school starts in the fall.  On any other day it would have been hard, but to go from such a relief high to a free fall low was more than I could take.
She was so nice and said all the right things and I said all the right things back as polite people do.  A few tears did escape but I just held it together somehow (shock?).  I walked directly back into the same staff restroom as before and called Keith.  The tears came and I could hardly speak.  We both were spinning.
 Like a person with shell-shock I walked back to my room where my coworkers took me into their arms and comforted me.  God Bless Them!  I'm sure they said all kinds of kind things to me but what I remember are the hugs.
What would have been an occasion to celebrate was tempered by loss. It worked the other way too - the day was not a total loss.