well seasoned
Now that my kids are all in school all day, I recently started a job search. For weeks this involved thinking about putting my resume together: Who would be a reference for me? How would I handle a big blank chunk in my work history while I was home with the kids for eleven years?
I did eventually come up with answers to those questions and in the process reconnected with my favorite Journalism Professor and with my friend Jim, an old colleague from CNN. I use the term old with hesitation: old in that we have known each other for almost 20 years but certainly not old in years!
Jim, who now works for abc News/Good Morning America tells me he is not sure how it happened but we have become the old people in the business. And he’s not kidding. The reporters he works with are in their 20’s and early 30’s. How is that possible? How did we get here?
I consult my friend T., who had a long successful career in advertising, and she tells me it’s all in how you position it. So I prefer to use the term “well seasoned.” Like a seasoned cast iron skillet, we might be showing our age but we are sturdy and dependable!
the art of leisure
When I was in college, Ohio University had a class called something along the lines of “The Art of Leisure.” Campus legend had it that when you turned 21 you should sign up for this class because your grade required sitting around drinking wine with the professor. I have emailed my J-Prof Bob to see if this was actually a real course.
While I was in the hospital, my friend Kim dropped off some movies and one night I watched Eat, Pray, Love for the second time. I was struck by the author’s time spent in Italy discovering “il bel far niente,” which means, “the beauty of doing nothing,” and how this is so counterintuitive to any mom’s schedule I have ever seen.
My first opportunity to put into practice was the day I got home from the hospital. I found the house was exactly in the condition I left it: a mess. I have a hard time walking by the mess without trying to fix it. If I’m going to be lying around I sure don’t want to stare at all the stuff that needs to be done. T calls to make sure I am following the doctor’s orders. When I tell her I don’t think she understands the state of my house, she tries to assure me by telling me everyone lives this way- except when company is coming.
And then I get more back-up: a divine intervention. Pastor Thom texts me to make sure I am doing “nada,” the word for nothing in Spanish. Then he says that I better be doing nothing or he is going to have to come over and preach! Actually I think it may be good for the family if he came over to preach.
So now I have had a few weeks to rest and settle into the art of doing nothing. Yes, I am still feeding the family and doing the laundry, but in between I am trying to do something pleasurable for me. Whether it’s talking to a friend, writing or reading a book, I have to say I’m getting used to it.
Stacey stories...for Moms everywhere 