Sunday, May 20, 2012

Comes the Dawn
Author: Veronica A. Shoffstall

After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security,
And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts
And presents aren’t promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today,
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans,
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure...
That you really are strong,
And you really do have worth.
And you learn and learn...
With every goodbye you learn.

I found this on a piece of paper that was in a bin of things that have been put away in the garage for a number of years. I have it dated as October 1983. I still like this poem (??), and still think it is extremely expressive of a hard emotional time in my life. It must have been the same for the author. BUT, I've moved on - and made many more goof ups since then!

Most of last week was spent doing workshop "homework" assignments for Word and Excel, and drafting a resume in functional format rather than chronological. I've completed all of the Excel class and 2 sections of Word. PowerPoint is next but I need a break. We got Ken signed up for a keyboarding class at UTA that starts in June. He's been hunting and pecking all these years, so now he's going to learn how to really use the keyboard. Friday morning we attended a workshop that was orientation to the workforce connection center, information about how to get some classes for free, and how to get involved in an intense job search workshop program offered by the resource center.

Friday afternoon we attended a resume critique workshop where our coach and counselor took the time to review each person's resume, make suggestions, told us how to rewrite it, etc. I had some work to do on mine. He also asked me if I really wanted to stay in the same field - I told him I don't know anything else. He said for the kind of money that I'm used to, it will take a while to find a job. I told him I'm not looking for that kind of money, just looking for SOME income. He then suggested consulting, training, etc., and gave me some sites to look at for ideas. I've been spending time doing that. And I've applied for a couple of consulting jobs. We'll see. When they're through laughing!

The counselor, Juan Hernandez, also suggested that Ken open is personal bookkeeping business. Ken put an ad on Craigslist, but that's as far as he's gone.

Ken and I were invited by our counselor to an "invitation only" networking workshop that happens this coming Monday afternoon. We plan to attend.

In addition, Ken followed up on a hint for folks in his situation (private matter). The place to which he was referred cannot help him but knew where to send him, so he had an appointment with them on Thursday morning. He will be attending a 3-day workshop at that resource center this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

While Ken will be busy with his stuff this week, I will start a 3-day intense workshop in the morning at 9 a.m. (Monday).

Yesterday I started going through one of the bins that's been stored in the garage. I found pictures I've been hunting for a long time (my children). I couldn't imagine what had happened to them. So yesterday I scanned some of them in to my computer. I want to put them on a thumb drive and take them to some place and print them out - hoping to get them to all print out in the same size (4x6) so that I can put the prints in an album to keep. I also want to put the originals in an album for each of my kids but I don't have a clue how to mount all these various size originals in an album. Ken suggested I talk to a photo shop (like Wolf camera) to see what they suggest. I don't want to glue them into a book, don't want to use those crazy picture corners, and don't want to tape them, and I find that those photo albums that are suppposed to be self sticking tend to fail after a while.

This morning we met up with friends Mary and Charlie McQ. at the house they've renovated. It is so CUTE! It's a 1940's/1950's vintage small 3-bedroom, 1-bath house that they got for about $12,000 and then they have been renovating it and probably have another $30K in it. It is a doll house. Has a small kitchen that is laid out so cute, living room, small dining room, the bedrooms are the expected size for that age home but not all that small. But it has a room that was added on to the back that just makes the house completely liveable. And it has a 2-car detached garage. If we didn't have a house already, I would consider buying it!

Anyway, we met up with them so we could get a key. Our friend Debbi was laid off when I was, and she (and hubby) moved back to Virginia. She left lots of stuff stored at our house. Well, Debbi and Mary are friends, too. Mary and Charlie are staging an estate sale at this renovated house the first weekend in June. Ken and I are taking all Debbi's stuff over to the house and setting it up as part of the estate sale. Mary and I have been planning this for 6 months - we're hoping to recoup some of Debbi's money, although we certainly don't expect to recoup a lot. She has a lot of McCoy, Laughlin, Neiman Marcus, Hallmark, Disney, and heaven only knows what else. She had furniture, too, but my girls and friend Linda got most of that.

This afternoon we went to Hoot's (an old, big smokey country bar) to meet up with friends from Poly High School. It was actually class of '68, but all we other classes go, too. We met a new friend today, and I think Ken has already befriended her on Facebook. She's neat. JR (Hoot's owner/manager) furnished the BBQ today, the rest of us brought sides and deserts. I ate way too much. There was this beautiful coconut cake there, and I wanted a small slice of it. OMG, Ken brought back a slice that was about the size of half a cake. I made him share it - it was far too big for one person, it would have fed 3-4. We offset it with diet coke (lol).

That's about it for now. I've discovered a few more pictures and I want to get those scanned into the computer. This picture business is one of the tasks I wanted to accomplish with retirement - I hope I get it done.

See ya! Have a great new week.

Take a listen to this one by a Welsh Chapel Choir: Oh Happy Day