One Week

Poof! A week has passed. It's so weird how quickly that can happen.

I did not sulk today. I started the day with two promising connections thanks to my network that helps me even when I say I don't know what I want help with...and I felt even better about those connections because my resume got a makeover and is now a much better reflection of me. (If you don't possess visual design skills, I recommended marrying someone who does.)

I took my boys and our dog for a walk around the lake, followed by cheeseburgers and ice cream in the sun, and I got a little sunburn, and it made me so, so, so grateful for this time and for this life.

I still can't seem to sleep through the night, so visceral is the fear of not being able to provide for my family, it wakes my body before my brain even knows what's happening, but most of my daylight hours are optimistic, even sometimes enthusiastic, about what I could do next.

I'm still in love with the fantasy of freelancing, but the reality is that I haven't set myself up financially to do that. Building a freelance business takes more time than I have and when I weigh the flexible life of a freelancer against the kind of flexibility that a well-paying job can provide...well, it's almost certain that I will need to go back to work. In an office. And I can live with that. I just hope that I'll have the luxury of being choosy about which office that might be and what work I might be doing.

Ugh, again no funny stories. I guess a week still isn't quite long enough for me to have fully developed a sense of humor about all this. As with everything else, I'm sure I just need to give it time. In the meantime, I am going to write that post about my amazing meal, because I refuse to let the layoff tarnish that experience.

And speaking of 40 by 40, I've made a list of the things I can (mostly) easily do while I've got all this "free" time!

#2 Bake a pie from scratch (I saw this in the June issue of Bon Appetit and took it as a sign)
#24 Learn to play poker (My family has been playing Hold'em, but I'll consider it checked off when I go try it out in a real casino)
#35 Write each one of my friends a letter saying what they mean to me
#38 Learn to change a tire
#39 Cook a lobster (Bon Appetit also sent me a sign on this one)

Those are five things that will make me feel accomplished! I'm committing to get all of them checked off in the next month.

Let's hear it for having personal goals that have nothing to do with the way you happen to make a living!