Sunday, April 02, 2006

Matters of Life and Death

Tomorrow is my first "half-day" and my first step toward preservation of sanity (I hope) and probably poverty. I go to work in the morning and come home at lunch-time... and stay there... or go where I want. I've been pretty stressed, overworked and sleep-deprived for months. After staying healthy for a couple of years my immune system must be suppressed because I've been sick twice this year -- just nasty cold bugs, almost pneumonia the first time, both with bouts of high fever and bad cough.

Friday I got up with a very high fever after being sick most of the week, but knocked it down with ibuprophen so I could attend a consulting business seminar. Unlike most of the others there, I am not trying right this minute to grow my business. I am just trying to figure out what kind of paperwork I need to fill out. Should I be a sole proprietorship or a limited liability partnership of one (a partnership of one? that's legalese if I ever heard it!!) The lawyers seem to think the LLP is infinitely a better idea, so I have to go through a little extra yada yada... but that's OK. Hopefully I will have TIME to do it. Some of the other seminar talks I am letting go in one ear and out the other because I am hoping to have lots of clients who would not even recognize me in a pin-striped business suit ("dress vertically!!!").

This week has also been filled with ev (Jeen Lilly). Because of her unique circumstances, the main responsibilities of bringing about her transition from one lifeform to another fell mainly upon acquaintences rather than family, and although we had known her online for years, few of us had very much face-to-face time with her. We personally had a couple of concerts, church, and lunch. Now I am charged with coming up with the words that with be read at her memorial, which will take place next Sunday. It's actually very easy to do that. The hard part is weeding it down, there is so much to choose from! An embarrassment of riches. That's how she described Austin, and it also describes the treasure trove of her own writings. Anyway, I will need to rest my voice. I have talked on the phone more in the last week than I normally do in several months, which has aggravated this awful cough that is still keeping me up at night. Gotta take care of that. Leaving the phone turned off except for periodically checking messages.

Maybe I'll read for awhile, and even take a nap. What a concept! Not one I've been very familiar with for a long time. Truly relaxing is not going to happen that easily. Hopefully it's down the road somewhere.

3 comments:

Ptelea said...

I hope your transition to less work/different work goes smoothly! I can see the photos of Alex as I type this. It makes me think we should all slow down to 'kitty time' as often as we can.

I am glad that you are writing the words for ev's memorial service. I would like to be there but don't know if I can make it.

Blueberry said...

It will be like nothing I've ever done. I know it is something that I will never forget. Things like this also remind us that we shouldn't spend so much time working unless we truly and passionately love our work.

Ptelea said...

I couldn't agree more with you about that. I 'met' ev at a time in my life when I was going through a lot of change and knowing her helped crystallize some of my most important beliefs on life. She had a pretty good idea of the proper balance in life - even if like most of us, she didn't always live it! The simple statement, work to live, not live to work comes to mind! Most jobs will chew you up if you let them. And our society is constantly urging us to be consummate consumers. I have nothing against having things and doing things that you enjoy but working to accumulate money is really a strange concept. I applaud you for taking a step to get off of that 'train' and giving yourself the gift of time. As another friend tells me, time is really our most precious resource.