Week One

So today was the final day of my first week back in a full-time job. What a switch from my daily reality these past four years!

As I was explaining to my teens today, I realize now I had become depressed by the all of the silence and lack of human contact in my days working for myself.

The freedom was nice. But I really missed being involved with other people on a project that means something.

Public broadcasting means something. Here in the Bay Area, it means a lot. Suddenly I am back in the middle of helping it thrive.

I like that.

One of my ex's told me that I was a workaholic. I never considered myself one, if only because so much of the time, whether at work or not, my mind is on my family.

I think and worry about my kids, and now, my grandkids. I am ready, at the drop of a hint, to leave my job and go to them should they need me. I have always had the tendency to actually forget about what matters at the office once I leave there, and return to the world where my kids and their issues predominate.

In other words, I seldom think about the office except when I am there.

Tonight, my youngest and her friend were home waiting for me when I arrived. They wanted to bake a cake. I went out and about the neighborhood to three stores until I found the vanilla cake mix and chocolate frosting mix they required.

Though I was tired from work, that gave me pleasure. They baked the cake, which lended my small apartment an aromatic benefit.

Then I picked up my sons.

The kids have all been enjoying some TV documentaries about sharks tonight. I cooked them spaghetti and meatballs.

On Monday I will go back to work. I am in a mid-management position, with certain responsibilities and also many limits. But I intend to have make positive impacts in this job. That is always my goal.

So am I a workaholic? Maybe. I enjoy work. I enjoy people. I enjoy story-telling. Now I have a job where I can indulge all of these passions.

That should turn out to be a good thing, I think.

And I hope.

-30-

Goodbye Summer, Hello End of Summer

This blog is becoming the only real outlet left for my writing as I have assumed my new position at KQED. (I shared that news at Facebook and LinkedIn today.) It is a whirlwind week on the work front but what is on my mind is what is going on with my kids as a result of me now working full-time.

Summer is almost over for my teens. The two who are still in high school will be back in classes within two weeks from now. They are *not* thrilled by the prospect, naturally, although I suspect Julia is excited/scared/ready to get to that next level in life.

Dylan will be a senior at Lowell and he is already at work on his college essays. Like all younger siblings, he knows he will not get the same type of parental supervision/support/involvement in his transition as Aidan got last year.

It just never works that way.

Julia still does not know which school she will attend but it appears likely it will be Gateway, a charter school in the Western Addition -- just blocks away from the spot where I first landed when I migrated here 42 years ago, to help launch SunDance magazine.

Does anyone remember that?

-30-

Old Cat? New Cat.

When this guy showed up tonight, I thought at first it might be our old friend, Oliver. But he is clearly a different cat, bigger, probably older, but still like all yellow male cats, extremely friendly. (I can only generalize due to what my ex-GF told me.)

He meowed as if he knew me, which made me think he might be Oliver, and came up to be petted. He let me carry him into our apartment.

But I'm quite sure he is his own cat. In any event, hello friend!

-30-

Day One Back

 So I am finally back at work in a full-time job, as Senior Editor, Online News at KQED, the public broadcasting company here in San Francisco.

It was a very good first day. I'm tired, but ready to go back at it tomorrow.

For the rest of this post, I want to celebrate my lovely youngest child's emergence this summer as a more confident young woman. She endured a rough stretch, not knowing what high school she will go to this fall.

She still doesn't know, but the situation is close to being resolved, and I can sense she is relaxing about it now.

She also has mastered how to get around town on public transportation, which is a big deal for a person her age.

Most of all, as anyone who knows her knows, she gives great hugs!

Sunday in the City

After some five hours of driving and a sunburn yesterday, today is a quieter day around the neighborhood. Trying to relax before my first day on the full-time job starting tomorrow. It still looks like there could be a mass transit (BART) strike, which will make it crazy, and have me at work three hours earlier than otherwise.

Hard to relax given all that, but for one of the rare times all year, all three of my sons and I got lunch together nearby and watched a bit of the Giants' game. My oldest son is in town for another wedding involving one of his long-time friends. About six of them all decided to get married around the same time over the past year.

My fantasy baseball team is in third place, far better than I thought it would do this season, with a relatively weak lineup. Maybe we've been lucky.

Today would have been my mother's 98th birthday. It is hard to believe she has been gone for 11 years now. I miss her.