All things evolve

It seems that each day brings new discoveries and new lessons. Some of them are welcome and bring a sense of joy or peace and then there are the ones you're not certain you ever wanted to find. And yet even those have value -- maybe even more value, you just have to look a little or a lot harder to see them.

This past year has definitely had it's ups and downs as I've adjusted to a new life, in a new location, but the good outweighs the bad and, as usual, I find myself surprised by how much I still have to learn. I worked until I was sixty-six and had just gone to work for a Japanese silicon wafer manufacturing company that was just building a new plant in my area. I was assistant to the president and I loved my job and I'd still be there (if they hadn't retired me anyway), but the company ran into some serious financial problems in Japan and had to shut down the entire facility. It was devastating for everyone. One of the things that was so wonderful and remarkable was the wide variety of people they had employed. There were the very young, the in between, and a large number of people well over 50 and there were people not only from the US, but Russia, Japan, China. It was a grand mixture and we were all excited and we were all heartbroken when it all came to an end in 1999.

As I mentioned in another blog, I went to Mexico and lived for a year trying to decide what I wanted to do next. It was hard when I returned to the states, ready to look for another job only to discover that there really is such a thing as age discrimination. But I've adapted -- as we all do and found that it is marvelous to have the time to be able to pursue interests we didn't have time for before.

So, each day offers new challenges and new gifts and I've found that it helps to see even the challenges as gifts in their own right.