Every silver lining has a cloud....

No, I can't take credit for that "silver lining" bit, that comes from a friend who has cornered the glass-half-empty market, bless her heart.

However, I did realize there was a bright spot to the recent "restructuring" of my work--we will be around for our friends' 10-year anniversary in late June. We were originally going to be at a conference followed by a vacation in California, but since I really don't need to go to the conference for work, and we don't really need to be spending big money on a holiday in these uncertain times, we decided to skip the whole thing. As a result, we get to celebrate with Val and Joan. And the week we were going to spend in California is now going to be spent in the Berkshires.

Silver lining, indeed.

On the other hand, a college friend who lives in Wisconsin told us about an opportunity to volunteer in June for a Frank Lloyd Wright weekend in Milwaukee that sounded fabulous--and would be, if we could spend money on a flight to the old sod (again, in these uncertain times). I would need to find a job/freelance gig really soon to make that possible; in other words, it ain't gonna happen.

I know, I know--atrocious grammar for a supposedly educated person, but sometimes, "ain't" fits. For example: "I ain't what I oughta be, and I ain't what I'm going to be. But I ain't what I was!" (From a sign over a western bar--surprised?--noted in Transitions: Strategies for coping with the difficult, painful, and confusing times in your life, by William Bridges.)

And it looks like I'm going to have to pass on this year's Peace Corps reunion in July, too. Kind of a drag--but I've missed them before and lived, so am choosing not to dwell.

At least for today.

(It probably didn't hurt that we saw "Off the Map" last night--definitely a movie that gives one a vision of making do with very little. Now, if only I looked more like Joan Allen....)