Help me with the story I am writing

I am writing a story to submit for publication. Here is what I have so far. I would like comments, suggestions, and any other input. I ad a talk with my husband last night -- I have 6 months in which to make a go of it as a writer, or I have to go back to the classroom. Anyway, I am getting serious -- so please help!


The snow pounded down. Normally Jane and her children loved snow, but this was more of a snow storm, not the gentle fluff they were used to. It matched her mood. Christmas was right upon them, but there was no Christmas spirit in the Chesney household. Jane, suffering from depression, and a host of old ghost-like issues had given up her job as an inner-city school teacher. Just walked away. She had thought that she would be able to find another job immediately, but hadn’t counted on the sudden economic recession, which made jobs hard to find.
So here they were, at Christmas, with just some stocking stuffers for her boys, a storm raging outside that mirrored the one inside her. “Damn, I just wish that I was strong enough to handle things. To handle life. I can’t seem to get myself together. Shoot, even when I do pull it together for a while, it doesn’t take long before I start to unravel again.”

“Hey Mom!” Joel barreled around the corner. “I’m hungry; what’s for dinner?”
The realities of motherhood snapped Jane out of her thought process. “Well, we can either have sloppy joes and fries, burgers and fries, or Hamburger Helper and fries. What…”

“Ewww -- can’t we have something else besides that nasty ground beef and those cheap fries? I am tired of them. When are we going to go grocery shopping?”

Snapping back, Jane snorted, “When I get another job or it starts raining money.”
The crestfallen look on Joel’s face was enough to make her want to eat her words. “I am sorry hon. I didn’t mean to sound ugly. I am tired of the same old, same old too. I am just trying to stretch the money as far as I can. I can’t afford to have anything go to waste and we had this stuff in the freezer.”

Joel took a long look at his mom. He saw tired blue half moons under her eyes. He knew that she suffered from mental illness -- he had heard enough stories about when she was younger and had lived through another million. She tried so hard. He just wished they could have a break. He looked out the window at the snow already piled up over a foot deep on the driveway. “Mom, I am sorry. I know you are trying. Let’s make sloppy joes -- come on, I’ll help.”

They walked together through the house. Looking around, Jane never quite felt settled in the house, although they had lived there for almost ten years now. Perhaps it was because she didn’t want to buy it initially, but Nathan had bought it anyway. It was squat and looked like a cracker box on end. Not a yummy box of keebler crackers, but a plain old box of saltines, sitting end up. Nothing pretty or unusual, just a cracker box. It was decorated with cast off and hand me downs, just like the rest of Jane’s life. Even her name was plain. Perhaps that was part of her issues -- that she was to never be happy with anything, that everything always felt and burdensome. Even her family that she loved so much felt that way at times. Like now, when they had to have ground beef for the fifth day in a row -- there is only so much you can go with ground meat.

“Hey Mom? Where is that can of sloppy joe mix?” Joel’s voice pulled her back to reality.

“Ummm, it is right over here.”

“You know Mom, it is going to be OK. We have a house and lots of stuff. A lot of people have less than we do. You and Dad are getting the bills paid, right? I mean, I know it really isn’t any of my business, but things are paid up, aren’t they? Please don’t give me that look like I am a kid and shouldn’t know what is going on. I have ears, and I hear you guys talking about things. And no matter what, we have each other, and we are going to take care of each other.”

At 6” tall, Joel looked much older than his 14 years. Sometimes he showed his old soul too. He really was a good kid. Jane watched him as he browned the ground beef at the stove, gathering all of the things he needed for the sloppy joes in between stirs. “Mom if you get the fries, ready, I’ll put them in the oven. I have it preheating.”

“Thanks son. You really are something else, you know that?”

”AAAARRRRRRROOOOO!”

“Get it boy!” said John as he barreled through the kitchen following a big coon hound closely. “I’ll bet Dad’s home!” Almost as tall as his brother, but two years younger, John was built like a football player whereas his brother was tall and thin, almost willowy, especially for a boy. John acted like a line backer -- he never moved slowly, always rushing headlong into whatever was happening next. This event just happened to be the arrival of Dad, It was cause for celebration every day when he came home.

He was loved by his family, that was for sure. He came stomping in. “Brrr, it is cold out there!” John and Buddy both flung them selves on David. “Hey guys, can’t you let me at least get in the door? John, you are never going to learn that if you fling, Buddy flings! Remember that we are trying to teach him calm, submissive -- not knock someone down?”

“Oh yeah, but Dad I just had to get here first to tell you that there is a canned food drive at school for the, for the -- uhhh -- oh yea, for the less fortunate, and the winning class gets out of homework for one whole week! Do we have cans I can take in? Do we?”

“I’m sure we can find something. Now let me go put my briefcase down so I can give your mother a big sloppy kiss.”

“EEEWWWW!”

Jane took it all in. It was a great picture, and she didn’t understand why it didn’t make her happy. It should. She had things that many people never get. A home, a family, and a husband who was good. Good to her, good to the boys, good to everyone.

“Hi honey, how was your day?”

Making his way through boys and dogs across the house to the kitchen, David walked over to Jane and kissed her. “I had a great day, how about you?”

Jane looked around her -- at her family, at her house, and realized that she had everything she wanted right here. “I had a great day too. Dinner is almost ready. Why don’t you go change?” Jane realized then that she was going to be OK. She would always be affected by her depression, but she had a loving, supportive family, and she would continue fighting the good fight.