The recession hits my family

Not my tiny three-person family, not the family I have to feed and clothe. We're still fine. My spouse still has his job. I still have my three jobs.

It's the rest of my family that's hurting.

One relative owns her own business. Thankfully, it seems to be pretty recession-proof, because the services she offers can save people money. So her income is okay. But she has an albatross of a house she can't sell, and that's having a really big impact on her life. She's having some health problems, and the house takes a lot of work to maintain, especially to keep it pristine for the few potential buyers who come to see it. She is also hoping to relocate to a less expensive area, but she can't do that til her house sells.

Another relative is a salesman. His income is commission-based, and he has had no commissions so far in 2009. Zero. Meanwhile, his company pays him a salary based on expected future commissions, so he's essentially going into debt to his company every month as they pay him for commissions he has not yet earned. He has worked for the company for decades, and this is the first time he has ever been behind like this. He has suffered some big investment losses, and is also living in an expensive area, trapped in a too-big house.

A third relative, also in sales, has just been fired. Although he's been in the job for many years, and had several years in there where he's helped triple the company's sales in one year, the recession has taken such a big bite out of revenue that the sales organization needed a fall guy. That's him. He's got a kid in private college, and another one approaching college age. Fortunately he's got another job lined up, but it's a temporary position.

And then there are the friends, the one who was laid off and is the sole earner for a family of four. There is the friend who took a much lower-paying job he hates rather than stay unemployed. There are the stay-at-home mothers who are going back to work much earlier than they hoped, or at least looking in vain for jobs. And in my area there are a lot of families pulling kids out of private schools because of money, or sending the youngest kids to public school while the older ones stay in their private prep schools.

I know all signs point to the end of the recession being closer, but it seems to be hitting my friends and family more and more all the time.

Anybody else noticing this? I feel very lucky not to be directly effected, but this is very hard to watch.