Opportunity. Really.

I'd been figuring that 2009 will be an eventful year, but I didn't realize how quickly that would be apparent, and in what manner. On Monday, I got laid off from my job. Hellooooo, 2009! Thanks for letting me know right up front that you're going to be a roller coaster.

Under the circumstances, I'm hugely thankful for several things. First, I'll still get paid for three months, but I won't have to keep going to work during that time. Essentially, I have three months to find a new job without suffering any financial conquequences. Thank. Gawd. With the economy the way it is right now, I'm hoping that'll be enough time, but regardless, the cushion helps, big time.

I am, of course, also thankful that Mr. Terrific is being great about all this. (No surprise, but I'm still thankful.) If I don't find a job in three months - heaven forbid - he'll help me however he can, and everything will be ok. Everything would have been ok if this had happened to me when I was single, just ok in a different way.

Finally, I'm thankful that I've been nudged out of a career that wasn't a good fit for me, so I now have to move in a different direction. This is where the sense of opportunity comes in. During the time I've got between jobs (please, universe, not the full three months), I'm determined to work on the following:

- Get more healthy and fit. Seriously, how many times have I said how great it would be if I could go to the gym in the middle of the day. I have no excuse not to take advantage of this right now. This means that I also have no excuse not to be ready for the 5k I'm signed up for in March. The treadmill and I will be fast friends this winter.

- Tackle house projects that have languished for lack of free time. Paint a couple rooms, paint the stairs to the upstairs bedroom, bring in an electrician to get a few lights fixed, that sort of thing. The big picture purpose here is to get the house prepared to rent out in a few months, so I can move in with Mr. Terrific and let my house pay for itself. We'd been planning on doing this anyway, but with my financial situation set to implode in three months, it would be great to have that wrinkle ironed out in advance.

- Find. a. job. I. like.

- Knit things, though, really, I suspect I won't need to summon my determination to make sure that gets done.