Context

This squid's context (boogie board) was very bad. We returned it to the ocean.

Sometimes it is important to know your true setting, and how others interpret it.

During one of our previous iterations of "Let's get into better shape," Gwen and I joined the YMCA. It was located in downtown Lexington, KY, which was very close to my workplace at the time. We would exercise (FYI: that YMCA had the coldest swimming pool in town!) and then shower.

While we were toweling off in the locker room one afternoon, I was greeted by the Chief of Staff of my employer. We had a short and pleasant exchange about the virtues of exercise and the convenience of the facility.

Flash forward about a week. The Chief of Staff visits our office. She said that it had been a while since she'd seen us, "except for Sarah. I saw her when we were both naked."

Everyone in the room was aware of my sexual orientation... except her. They were all quiet, so she repeated it. Then she added that we were both in the locker room at the Y, and my coworkers laughed. For a moment, I'm sure some of them thought, "no wonder she still has a job."

I'm trying to find my personal context again. Like most people, I partially define myself by my occupation. And why not? Your job determines a large portion of your social life, what lifestyle you can afford, and 'free time' to get other stuff done.

I've lost my context. The good part is that I've used the time to write, exercise, and even clean things.  The more difficult part is looking for a new place to work. Tampa Bay is a tough job market, but I'm wondering if there's a way to choose my context this time. Maybe I should look for contract, temporary, or part-time work, giving me more time to write and focus on the press. We may need to cut out some luxuries, but wouldn't advancing our personal goal of self-sufficiency as authors be worth it?

I don't know yet. I do hope that, when I find my next job, it is filled with good people like the ones that laughed that day.