In Sondheim’s Into the Woods a line comes up again and again,
opportunity is not a lengthy visitor.
In my opinion, it’s not a frequent visitor either though it does often seem to follow the old saying – when it rains, it pours.
On Tuesday I was offered a presenter’s spot at the upcoming Strathcona Writer’s Workshop in April, and on Wednesday, my yoga teacher asked if I felt ready to teach as she’d been offered a couple of after school jobs at local elementaries that she didn’t have time for herself.
Solid opportunities that I am taking, but it feels a bit odd coming from my background of conventional nine to five work. Free-lancing is such an artsy thing though in truth, I have become a rather artsy person in many ways. Manner, dress and mild distaste for the scrambling that goes on in the pursuit of lifestyle.*
It’s a fortunate space I occupy at the moment to be able to do what I want to do. Not a place I would have envisioned a decade ago. The Des Moines school district, where I taught, is very likely to savagely cut its teaching staff in the next 8 weeks. Even with twenty-three years of seniority, I might not have been safe from that and my mother and BFF tell me that the lay of the land is grim. I wonder at the twists and turns that spirited me away from all that and why.
My writer friend, Abby, once commented that it appeared I was meant to be here in Canada. Some higher purpose? Giving talks on blogging and teaching kids yoga? A dubious purpose, but it could be that humans have the idea of destiny and purpose confused with World of Warcraft questing.
Getting back out into some hippy mom version of the world of employment feels okay though.
*And I mean the choice of lifestyle that many of those around me engage in. I know from experience that for a lot of people work isn’t, and has never been, a matter of anything other than survival.
anniegirl1138 
Hi there, just found your blog from my google alert on kids yoga. I have a lot of kid yoga articles on my blog in case you’re interested. Looking forward to hearing how the classes go.
although i have a freakish amount of control over my daily calendar – while still having to work from home to get things done on occasion – it is still a ‘day job’. there are expectations, constraints – and many others counting on me to play my part in the organizational orchestra. i have often wondered how i would manage an entrepreneurial, free-lancing opportunity… it’s more challenging in some ways when you are the primary cog in your own machine!
you seem to be making the transition with a good bit of finesse! these are fantastic opportunities – doors are opening because you’ve done all the prep and worked for it.
This is great news. You have laid solid groundwork to take advantage of free-lancing opportunities, which many mistakenly think “just happen.”
This was a timely post for me to read. There is a lot swirling around in my atmosphere about “opportunity” this week.