Loretta, you speak for many.

I just said to my husband at lunch that this really feels like it did just in the middle of the mortgage origination dead zone in the early 80s.  It took two or three years to recover back then.  We're right now almost through year two of crap and I think we have one more to survive.

Back in - I think 1981 - we traded in our little Triumph for a Chevette and I worked at Radio Shack selling computers for a year until my old boss called and said things were picking up again.  It wasn't much money but it was money and I learned things about computers that I probably wouldn't have if not for the experience.  We do what we have to do.

This time round, I'm the boss so even though it's stressful, I'm doing the layoffs this time and it doesn't make anyone feel good.  We at least know that the business is cyclical and it does come back.  That's the beauty of real estate.

At least for now, there isn't anybody coming to the front door to chop heads off and there is food, so no matter what we are survivors.  As a community and as families we learn and grow.  Your children have learned lessons in freedom and economics.  They know hard work earns rewards and they know that real life includes circumstances beyond our control - whether they are large cyclical boom/bust swings or the challenge of pricing against competition.

Like buggy-whip makers of old, sometimes I wonder if traditional title examination will survive the crappy standards of our underwriters and automation.  For now, I remain positive and believe that when the volume swings back up - as it will - there will be enough traditional biz out there to make careers like ours possible.

I wish you well and know from the tone of your words that you are surrounded by love and together your family will create goodness out of the experience.