While certainly not unexpected, it’s still disappointing. Just shy of 4 years in, I was laid off this week. This is the only time in my adult life that I’m leaving a job without something else already lined up. There are obviously various administrative tasks to complete, but that list is nearly complete.

So, now what?

Based on the experience of many excellent software engineers and engineering leaders that have recently found themselves in this position, it’s likely going to take a while to find that next role.

I need a new job and while I may end up happy just to find any position at all, I think it’s worth thinking about what that next role would ideally look like. The one thing I know would be on that list is some form of community. I like people. :) Collaborating with people working on projects that make life better for more people seems pretty great, doesn’t it? That’s not really a job description though, so I guess I have more thinking to do. Ha!

The other thing I’m wondering is how to make the most of this time. I mean that both in terms of finding that next role and also in terms of having never had time off like this before and wanting to enjoy a little sunshine. I’m grateful this happened at the start of summer. I’ve offered suggestions related to this to friends and family in the past so I suppose I’ll start with those ideas and see how well they work for me. Scheduling relaxation time is the one thing that I suspect may be the hardest to actually do.

Spring in our yard is colorful. We have several rhododendron bushes that bloom at different times. One of the neighbors mentioned that she counts the white rhodie in my backyard blooming as the start of spring, regardless of what the calendar says. At the moment however, this pink one is the star. People in the neighborhood have said they plan their walking routes to include our street just to see this one plant.

The rhodies aren’t the only colorful thing though. This corner of my yard makes both me and the bees happy.

As it’s Easter, I suppose I’ll include this bunny that startled me (and then itself) earlier this week.

2025! Is January 8th too late to wish someone a Happy New Year? I say no. Happy New Year!

The holidays were lovely. Both kids were in town for Christmas and there’s always a lot of laughter when they are around. We watched some good movies (The Holdovers and Klaus stand out most) and some not so good movies (Red One, eek!). We also watched the series Nobody Wants This which I turned on looking for something non-serious to watch while stitching and it turned out to be so good, I restarted it and watched it all the way through more than once. Apparently my son had told us to watch it before, but I hadn’t. I’d rewatch it again today if I could, honestly.

To get out of the house, we went downtown to see the big Christmas tree in Pioneer Square and to see the Gingerbread House display at the Benson hotel. I’m planning to do this again next year, it was a good way to get into the spirit of the season.

As has become tradition, we rang in the New Year with the neighbors. I highly recommend becoming friends with the people that live all around you.

We’re in the part of the year that reminds me that I live in THE NORTH. (Relative to my own past.) While the sun is out it’s generally flooding all rooms with southern facing windows, regardless of time of day. And yet, the nightlight I finally put in the upstairs hallway hasn’t turned off once!

We purchased an older, low-mileage Subaru for the daughter. She’s graduating this year and will likely move out of the small walkable town she’s living in so it was time. She drove it up to Whidbey Island for New Years and then drove it down to her place in time for school. It should be a great car for her. The son borrowed my vehicle to head back to school early (he wanted some time without the roommates in his apartment) so I’m getting to experience life with only one vehicle between my husband and I. It turns out that it is really easy if you work from home, eat leftovers for lunch every day and the neighbors are the people you spend most of your time with. On the other hand, after 5 years of working almost exclusively from home I’m usually anxious to get out of here. Perhaps having the need to have 2 vehicles is more aspirational than current reality.

January 1, 2025 marked 3 years that I have been sewing or stitching something daily. Most days I spend just 20 minutes or so, but I’ve learned a lot and it’s often a nice way to work through any of life’s frustrations. I have fabric picked out for a few bags I’m really exciting to get started on.

I’m continuing to volunteer for the woodworking guild this year. Figuring out how to organize several classes each month with instructors and assistants through some mechanism other than email is a goal for 2025. If you have suggestions, please send them my way.

Finally, I started learning Svelte and SvelteKit over the break. Matt and I have a couple projects we’d like to collaborate on this year and I don’t know the tools he’d like to use! I’m impressed so far with Svelte and I’m really looking forward to building something with Matt.