Mid-Life Crisis

So much time has passed, so much has transpired since my last pitiful post! I'm another year older, (41), and I desperately want to work on my manuscript, but apparently that time is yet to come. What is it time for, you may ask?

Design Time: I've been running my full-service web design firm for a year now. It's flabbergasting to me that the bills are getting paid with this gig, when we used to live on my fat cat salary. Why, why why didn't I listen to Clark Howard back then???

Mom Time: As a result of owning a home business, this is my first summer home with the kids, ever. It is SO awesome and challenging at the same time. I LOVE sitting at the pool, working on the laptop, but I HATE how messy the house has become. I'm a total slob, and having little ones at home all day with me compounds the detritus of slobbiness. It's worth it, period. I hope my kids will have many fond memories of spending summers with Mom.

Music Time: Yes, I'm still playing bass in my brother's band, though I constantly implore him to find someone else who can at least read music. It's lots of fun, and I enjoy it, but I'm not loving the commute to practice.

Taekwondo Time: I took karate as P.E. in college; I continued with it until I almost had my green belt. Then I met a boy...anyway, now that I've got two little kids because of that boy, we're looking for ways to give them constructive activities. My son started first, then my daughter thought it was cool and joined. I couldn't stand the thought of them getting a green belt before I did! Yeah, big mama-san in giant white uniform kicks and jumps amongst the skinny laughing children...

Navy Time: Woo Hoo, Yippee, and then some! I get to be part of a Sea Scout Ship, which I've wanted to do since I was a kid. One of my great-grandfathers was an oysterman, and another was a ferry boat captain. Dad was a naval computer operator. (I had plans of going to Annapolis at one point.) So what are Sea Scouts? Imagine a water-oriented Boy Scout troop, and now imagine girls can join, too! (We have a co-ed ship that's just starting out.) At this point, it looks like I'll be a "Mate" of some sort, who assists the Skipper, or Leader. The only reservation I have is the uniform. If we have to go official with dress whites, I'll look like a Sta-Puft Marshmallow-Woman. Here's the coolest part; the weekend before I got asked to be a part of the ship, I found a Civil War era button on the beach--it turns out it was from a Union Navy peacoat. In my mind, that was a pretty cool indicator that the sea was calling me!

So what's the meaning of all of this? Am I kindred spirit to the balding man who buys a red sportscar? Only time will tell. :)

The Manuscript.

I know I've been woefully silent, the scourge of true bloggers. That's because:

1) I don't consider myself a "blogger", who keeps a weblog of my cool activities, I write short stories instead

and

2) I got laid off. (Insert self-righteous little "so there")

So, during the time that I'd planned to start my manuscript for a real, live book, I spent my time scrambling to establish my own design business and trying to bring in some real moolah. Thank heaven, it worked. I have a dependable stream of income from a crew of clients that keeps increasing by word-of-mouth referrals. God is good: time to get back to living, instead of scrambling. I think I'll test-drive stories up here as I collect and refine material, so I think Fred deserves an update to his entry, for one thing. More on that after we do our annual search for the dear little woodcock.