I’m Lucky
This song by Joan Armatrading has been running through my mind since yesterday: I’m Lucky. Don’t look too closely at the lyrics, but the sense of joy and contentment the song carries is mine as well.
This week, I received what lawyers call a “workforce reduction notification.” Getting downsized or RIF’d or laid off is not usually a recipe for joy, but in this case, it is giving me time to reassess my life and direction, thanks to my employer’s generosity.
I’m lucky because of many things:
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This job introduced me to a number of talented people who accepted me as their peer and helped me to do some of my best work. I discovered that teamwork is more than a vague concept cooked up by industrial psychologists to get worker bees all buzzing in the same direction. At its best, it is the cohesiveness of people working toward a common goal, pushing here and giving there, until the team comes to the desired result. Even better is when the team arrives at a result that surpasses what the group expected.
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My college degree and the sense of accomplishment it gave me long ago put me in the league of people who have options for their work life, who can see any exit door as an entrance to a wider world. My thanks to every California resident whose taxes paid for that higher education and to the legislators who made the Cal Grant A and the Pell Grant, and thus college, available to families like mine.
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My health is good. When you’ve got your health, …
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Life at home is a haven of peace and joy. OK, it’s not all hearts and flowers, but in general, there is a sense of harmony here that makes much else possible. “Marriage is a long conversation,” wrote novelist Henry James, and I still love to take part in this one.
I could go on, but you get the picture.
