This morning, my boss stopped by my office to give my my layoff papers. It's official August 31, although it could conceivably be moved to an earlier date. I get a fair amount of severance pay. Between severance, my personal savings, and unemployment, I should be able to survive frugally but comfortably up through the end of the year.

But I haven't had to look outside the company for a job for seven years. Whatever new job I find will probably have less pay, fewer benefits, and less career advancement potential than the job I'm about to leave behind. I'm scared. I'm very scared. I have a lot of friends who have circled around me to give me advice and support, and they make me feel better about the situation than I suspect they will ever know, but even so, I'm scared.

One of my closest friends at work was also laid off, about six hours after me. I don't understand why, she's one of the best we've got at what she does, but the decision was made.

I took the day off to try to compose myself, but tomorrow I have to go back to face the inevitable stares and hallway chatter. I'm not looking forward to it.

Wish me luck.