Saturday the 14th

Saturday was another lovely day. It really is incredible to be in a job where I'm meeting such nice people who aren't in crisis! I had quite a nice conversation with Maureen Costa in the morning. Maureen has never done any beading, and she came into the store because she is leaving her current job, and wanted to make gifts for her co-workers. She decided on bracelets, and I must say, Maureen has a natural eye for design! I think I may have created a new beader. She picked out some flat frosty white and amber sea-glass beads (I'm not sure where the previous owner found them, but I'd like to find more!) She paired the sea glass with some great natural beads in blues, mint green, pinks and browns. She then used a a little sparkle with small faceted glass beads. The end result: 6 unique bracelets with a common theme. As Maureen was stringing along, we got into a conversation about the job she is leaving, and discovered that her decision to leave this position mirrored my own decision to quit my job in Vermont. Both of us are trained in the "human-service" arena, and as compassionate, "bleeding hearts", felt drawn into the type of work that is mentally and spiritually draining. High "Burn-out" fields. Maureen, like myself, just was not feeling happy with the work, but felt a strong connection to her co-workers and the clients she serves. I can commiserate with that feeling of not wanting to disappoint, not wanting to leave others with more work, not wanting to leave the people you've established relationships with. But I echoed to Maureen the advice I had received when I made the decision: you have to do what makes you happy! If you're in a job that is making you physically or emotionally ill, then you're not giving 100% of yourself, which ultimately isn't helping your co-workers or the people you serve. And people manage. It's what we all do. Turning lemons into lemonade and all that jazz. So by the end of our conversation, Maureen seemed to feel more at peace with her decision. Sometimes just talking it out does a world of good.
As we were talking, Alison, who was in the store shopping for her younger sister's 25th birthday, interjected her own experiences working in a human-service field. She is a Speech Language Pathologist, and I got so excited when she said that is what she does, because my best friend Cocoa was at that very moment, taking her "Praxis" exam. Now, I have no idea what "praxis" even is, but I know it's an exam every SLP has to take. Cocoa had asked me to send some positive vibes her way, so Alison, perhaps by divine intervention, was in the store at the precise moment that Cocoa needed those vibes. The three of us transmitted all the touchy-feely goodness that we could muster!
Later in the afternoon, I met JoAnn Jones. JoAnn had made a bangle bracelet at the store several years ago, and wanted to re-create the look for her sister's 50th birthday. Together, we figured out how the previous bracelet had been made, and made another stunner! I liked the bracelet so much, I'll have to offer a class. When she was finished with it, she put it on her own wrist, to charge it with positive energy. I noticed her giving it numerous admiring glances, which made me so happy!
I also met Lou and Sherry, and as soon as they introduced themselves, their names slipped from my mind. To my defense, it was the end of the day, I'd met a lot of people, and I was very hungry. I called them Bruce and Mary. They were very nice about it though, and seemed to like those names. They were quite an entertaining couple. I wasn't sure how to respond when Lou announced "When life gets boring, you just get a new wife!...This ones my fifth". I was trying to come up with an appropriate response, when I noticed the "look" that Sherry gave him, and he admitted he was kidding. They were a lot of fun. I promised Lou I'd have a nice little "husband chair" for the next time he came in, though he didn't seem to mind chatting with me and my mom while Sherry picked out findings. Any other husbands out there who would relax in a comfy chair with a Sports Illustrated while their wives shopped? I think I might put a little "inspiration corner" in the shop. A place where you can sit back with a couple of beading magazines and wait for inspiration to strike. Or where a long-suffering husband can relax with the newspaper.