Riding the waves

Image by Maliz Ong

They say to be careful what you wish/pray for. 

Workwise, as a freelance writer/editor/voice-over talent, things have been really slow. Starting in October of 2015, my workload shrunk considerably. As a matter of fact, for the first time in almost 11 years in business, by work queue was empty on more than one occasion. That's scary for those of us in the freelance business who depend on that income. Really scary. Like I said, things had been really slow for the final few months in 2015. I wasn't sure what I was going to do.

Then I started praying for work (duh, I guess I should have done that more faithfully in the previous months). Suddenly, starting a couple of weeks ago, things started happening. This week, they exploded. I cannot keep up with the requests to submit proposals for work. And I cannot catch my breath.

In the meantime, I committed to pet/house sitting for four days at the end of the week. One of my oldest friends is moving from Pittsburgh to Oregon and we have one chance to get together for a final dinner (sniff). That's this coming Monday night.

And then there are the human tragedies surrounding us. In less than a week, we've lost one friend (who died unexpectedly in his sleep), another's adult son died suddenly, and another's wife, who was operated on for ovarian cancer last week, had a stroke two days later and slipped into a coma. On Sunday, our friend took her off life support. She died today. 

So there will be funeral home visits sprinkled into all of this busyness. Sadness upon sadness. Yet, the very thing I prayed for is coming to fruition and beyond, so I have to keep at it. It's daunting really. On one hand, there is tragedy. On the other, success. Balancing emotions through all of this is tough. 

Yesterday, I was celebrating the acceptance of one of my flash fiction pieces for Poppy Road Review (it was published yesterday), and then my joy came crashing down at the news of my friend's son's death. Crazy. 

But that's the world we live in, isn't it. Grief vs. joy, struggle vs. victory, failure vs. death. It all colors the canvas and we have to learn to be flexible and resilient. I'm trying. Really I am. 

So, if I'm absent more than usual from here and from the FB page, know that I'm just trying my best to ride the waves and not grow seasick.