A long week drawing to a difficult close...

First off, I will just comment that I am still "absorbing" last weekend's Art Crawl experience and will write about it soon. Overall, it was a good experience--lots of visitors to my studio, plenty of good conversation with folks about my art...As an introvert, on some levels, it is always a draining event for me...I need to pull back for a few days, spend some time with myself to recharge. But I enjoyed the Art Crawl a great deal.

Unfortunately, I've been forced to turn my attention this week to the difficult situation at my work. Tomorrow is the day that layoffs will be announced. I may very well be one of the staff that will be gone. Sometimes I think it might be even more painful to watch my friends/co-workers be told they're "done".

At work I'm keeping busy doing paperwork, updating files...At home, I try to divert my attention with a baseball game or something that doesn't require much thought. Mostly, I'm just a little numb.

I've done a lot of thinking about what matters to me...why I've stayed at Southside Family Nurturing Center--even though the pay is less than great, even though we've been under the budget ax this past year...and there are many reasons. There are the practical reasons...at this job, I have great non-pay benefits (paid time off, insurance) that allows me to pursue my art. But more importantly, Southside's values echo my own: I'm not looking to get rich in this lifetime, but I do want to give back. It is important to me to help others.

And so that is my greatest sadness in all this: that Southside's ability to help struggling families is being greatly diminished and threatened. I am not sure, if I should lose my job, what my new direction will be...but I will miss helping the families. I will miss hearing their stories and encouraging them to keep moving forward one small step at a time. I will miss watching their children grow...and thrive.

I appreciate all the support and encouragement I have received from you these past months. It touches my heart to read an email or comment from someone I've never met that is taking a few moments to offer some support. In my book, it's those kinds of efforts that keep this world spinning round.

I'll let you know how things unfold. Either way, it will be better tomorrow to know and be able to move forward. 

If you would like to know more about Southside, you can go to their website, read this earlier post or read any of my posts concerning Southside by clicking on the label on the right sidebar.  (or you can watch the video below) 

It is an amazing place.