every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end....

these lyrics from the song closing time by semisonic have resonated with me lately.....

2011 will be a year of changes for me.  

two weeks ago i lost my job.  

one that i have had for 10 years.

  

it was a shock considering that it happened just a week before christmas, however, i hadn't been happy for a while and talked often with my husband about finding something else, 

maybe changing careers, as the healthcare field had been taking it's toll on me in the past couple of years.  i felt stressed and overworked and my sense of compassion for other people was becoming non-existent.  

as the saying goes "when one door closes, a window opens"  

and i am going to live by that quote. 

this new direction will allow me to focus on my photography and perhaps 

start a little business painting and 

repurposing discarded and thrifted furniture, 

something that i have found really satisfies me. 

while i have an enormous amount of guilt about less money in an already stretched budget, i have a wonderful sense of calm poking through all of the guilt because 

this....

this...

and this...

is what makes me happy right now and gives me a sense of accomplishment and pride in my house, something i let fall to the wayside lately because of all of the stress and overtime hours spent at work. 

i am fortunate to have the full support of my family and friends, although i think austen is going 

to miss those couple of hours between getting home from school and dad getting home from work when he had the house to himself.  what kid wouldn't.  this new direction in my life will afford me the opportunity to chaperone on school field trips and watch my granddaughters now that shannon is going back to school to get her degree. 

i think that the next couple of months will be defining for me.....

and although my heart races at times when i think too hard about the new direction my life has taken,

i am at peace.