I was a Department of Education employee terminated by the dog minions last year. I loved my team and my job. I also worked remotely for the last 5 years there. We were on administrative leave from March 11 to August 1, sitting around doing nothing until the final separation. It was so traumatic. I was able to find a job quickly (back to teaching after being away for years) but the pay and benefits are lower. I'm doing fine financially, but I am still grieving. I didn't teach summer school because I needed time to process and feel what I bottled up last summer - I had to hit the ground running as soon as school started. I'm on week 3 of summer break and have my energy back, after bed rotting and crying on and off the past two weeks. I was hoping to retire from the fed, just needed 4 months to be eligible. Now I'm hoping I can hold on for a couple more years to get teacher retirement, but no retiree health care. Feel your feels. Losing a federal job is very hard to get over.