What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's all About???

Monday Musings...

I keep forgetting to tell people that I'm now working two part time jobs: 1) in the old office where i've been temping off and on since June 2005 (University of Washington Medical Center), and 2) as a freelance WRITER for the photographer Phil Borges, who founded "Bridges To Understanding" (www.bridgesweb.org), with whom I volunteered as a grant writer this summer!

On Mondays and Fridays I'm working on a book project with Phil called, "Stirring the Fire: Women Heroes from the Edge of the World." It will profile 25 women, mostly in developing countries, who've gone to heroic efforts to empower other women in 4 general areas: education, health, economics, and community involvement. For examples of Phil's portraits and other books, see this site: http://www.philborges.com/enduringspirit/esphoto00.html#

Anyway, the experience has just been wonderful...it's so satisfying to collaborate with someone who's passionate about what he's doing, and writing for me is just intrinsically rewarding! My work is basically to piece together the elements of each woman's story from various tapes, notes, and Phil's memory, and condense it into a 100-150 word profile to accompany each portrait.

It's been such a blast, and I feel incredibly lucky to be in a position to be paid to do what I love! In the past 2 years since college, I've been on a roll of asking anyone and everyone how she/he figured out "what to do with their life." One of the responses I got fairly frequently was to pursue something you love, and things will fall into place. I always rejected that strategy, believing it only applied to very lucky people. However, this experience has certainly been encouraging, and has inspired me to rethink my attitude! Perhaps I should go with the flow more? But then again, jobs with health insurance don't necessarily fall into place, do they?

At any rate, I've resolved to just enjoy the project and not worry too much about the future; tomorrow I have an interview at the Center for Human Development and Disability at the UW, where I'm very interested in working, and I'll continue to apply for jobs that spark my interest.

I'm keeping very busy with the writing and extra office work at the UWMC as well as finishing WEDDING plans this week, as my little sister's getting married in FIVE DAYS! It's insane!

Tonight we had some family time (Monday is my dad's day off, so we try to have dinner together) and conversed about what song my dad and Michelle should dance to at the wedding. We were trying to find the Dixie Chicks' "Landslide" but ended up accidently playing their version of the Lullaby "Godspeed," and we all agreed it was perfect...

We all bawled as my sister and dad danced around the kitchen in their PJs and socks...I just can't believe my baby sister is going to be a wife. We're not stressing too much about the wedding at this point - most of the nitty gritty work has been done - I think the magnitude of the event is just slowly hitting all of us. | posted by Cheryl, 3/20/2006 09:16:00 PM