wifercize wednesday: double time

The question remains: what will I do with my time after next Wednesday at 5:00 p.m.?  (Not that I'm counting the seven days, two hours, and thirty-eight minutes until then.)

As with most of my dramatic decisions, no matter how spontaneous they appear, I put a ridiculous amount of time, energy and contemplation into resigning from my job.  Keep in mind I have been a faithful soldier in the army of corporate administration for a decade.  I can answer phones, coordinate schedules, book appointments, edit correspondence, order supplies, photocopy files, file photocopies, and Brother P-Touch™ label like a champion.  Sometime simultaneously.

Once I'm off the grid, however, where will I find definition?  CBC radio recently reported on the influx of baby boomers hitting retirement age.  The first wave of them have celebrated their 65th birthday but many are loathe to leave their places of employment: for 20, 30, sometimes 40 years they have defined themselves through career.  Once they're out the door, they face the question that a job has answered for them for more than half their life - what do I do?

Practically, I've worked out that I'll be pastoring part-time with Catch the Fire (Andrew and I have been pastoring youth and young adults for seven and four years, respectively) while Andrew continues to teach high school at YDSB.  But that won't define me.

I hope that the tension between who I am and what I do will dissolve and blend in wonderfully nebulous titles: wife, mother, pastor, sister, writer, daughter, homemaker, friend.  I hope that I will live up to these titles in ways I previously have not.  I hope to diffuse the arguments such as:

"Nobody objects to a woman being a good writer or sculptor or geneticist if at the same time she manages to be a good wife, a good mother, good-looking, good-tempered, well-dressed, well-groomed, and unaggressive."  (Marya Mannes)

And I hope to do this by way of example.  I might be frustrated and challenged along the way, I may end up Brother P-Touch™ labeling everything in sight for an afternoon out of habit, I may find myself fearing my self-imposed retirement, but I also may discover that who I am and what I do are not mutually exclusive but mutually comprehensive.

return of the mack

Two months' hiatus must have done WONDERS for my readership however, for those of you still reading, you deserve an explanation. In the past two months I was laid off from one job, sat around eating up through my severance package for five weeks, interviewed for another job, interviewed for a second job, between the two jobs landed the one I preferred, and began this past Monday.

Add a husband who recently picked up a 3-week supply teaching gig in a special needs class, a lengthy list of things to do around the house that I finally had time to do, the announcement and consequent moving of the church we pastor to a new location, a trip to Montreal for our second anniversary (as per tradition), and my 30th birthday.

SO NOW YOU KNOW WHAT I WAS UP TO.

For my 30th, Andrew - the dear - bought me a very pretty new MacBook. My iBook G4 and I have had so many pleasant memories (I began this blog with her in 2005) but it was time for her to retire. The new MacBook erased any feelings of grief I might have felt.

A new decade, a new job, a church neighbourhood, a new set of dreams, and a new laptop to post on. Life is good.