Update....
I apologize for the lack of posts.... I am currently packing up my home and studio for a move to the Washington, DC area while preparing to give birth to my first child, a girl, in a few weeks. I expect life to be in substantial upheaval for at least another month or so as I have a baby and relocate. On the bright side, I have never had so much work out, spread about the globe.... makes me feel a bit better about the temporary production slowdown.
There are few things as psychologically disruptive as disassembling one's studio... especially when you have not yet picked out the next one. We will be in a temporary apartment with bare necessities up North while we sell the house we have and search for a new one... I with nothing to do but read, embroider, and take care of The Peanut. I have chosen three embroidery projects to take with me, and will post in-progress images. It is tough, as painting has been off-limits, and I am itching to paint. Embroidery is much more appropriate for this time, as it is easier to pick up and put down. Everyone tells me I will just want to sleep when the baby sleeps, though I have never been much of a napper.....
I hated this house when we got here, but now I will be sorry to leave it, especially when I consider that our money will buy a place half as big (if we are lucky) in VA or Maryland. I will miss the green, the quiet, the safety, the easy life, but can't wait to get back to civilization, especially in a city where I already have so many old friends.
We came to NC three years ago, when my husband was offered a job at a major medical testing laboratory. I gave up my tenured position to make the move, the toughest thing I have ever done. When I met my husband, he was doing AIDS & cancer research at U of Miami. He has always been in his field to help people and do some good.
When the NC lab laid him off one week after I became pregnant, it was devastating. Seven months of unemployment while expecting a baby was incredibly stressful. Now that he has found a new position, I am having my first and only child, and cannot set up a nursery, because we have to relocate in the middle of all of it. We are living apart for a good part of our weeks, hoping that, when the time comes, I can get to the hospital (45 min away) and that I am in labor long enough that my husband, a deeply sentimental man, can drive the 5-7 hours back to NC without incident and witness the delivery of his only child.
My husband never really belonged in a place where he was trying to make things better and improve quality of patient care: higher-ups in the corporation only cared about the bottom line, and the people who worked for him just wanted to do their jobs with a minimum amount of change & effort until they could retire. He is presently employed at the FDA, where he is surrounded by other people with the common goal of trying to make a difference, regulating the kind of profit-minded corporations he used to work for. He is going to be a lot happier there.
As for me, giving up tenure to work in my studio full time was terrifying, but I never regret it: the risk I took has given me substantial jumps in my career. I have had three quiet years to focus on my work, and my resume has doubled. Even in this economy, as I contemplate going back to teaching, I could never have imagined the twists & turns my studio life would take. I am forever grateful for the opportunities that life in NC has afforded me.
I apologize for the lack of posts.... I am currently packing up my home and studio for a move to the Washington, DC area while preparing to give birth to my first child, a girl, in a few weeks. I expect life to be in substantial upheaval for at least another month or so as I have a baby and relocate. On the bright side, I have never had so much work out, spread about the globe.... makes me feel a bit better about the temporary production slowdown.
There are few things as psychologically disruptive as disassembling one's studio... especially when you have not yet picked out the next one. We will be in a temporary apartment with bare necessities up North while we sell the house we have and search for a new one... I with nothing to do but read, embroider, and take care of The Peanut. I have chosen three embroidery projects to take with me, and will post in-progress images. It is tough, as painting has been off-limits, and I am itching to paint. Embroidery is much more appropriate for this time, as it is easier to pick up and put down. Everyone tells me I will just want to sleep when the baby sleeps, though I have never been much of a napper.....
I hated this house when we got here, but now I will be sorry to leave it, especially when I consider that our money will buy a place half as big (if we are lucky) in VA or Maryland. I will miss the green, the quiet, the safety, the easy life, but can't wait to get back to civilization, especially in a city where I already have so many old friends.
We came to NC three years ago, when my husband was offered a job at a major medical testing laboratory. I gave up my tenured position to make the move, the toughest thing I have ever done. When I met my husband, he was doing AIDS & cancer research at U of Miami. He has always been in his field to help people and do some good.
When the NC lab laid him off one week after I became pregnant, it was devastating. Seven months of unemployment while expecting a baby was incredibly stressful. Now that he has found a new position, I am having my first and only child, and cannot set up a nursery, because we have to relocate in the middle of all of it. We are living apart for a good part of our weeks, hoping that, when the time comes, I can get to the hospital (45 min away) and that I am in labor long enough that my husband, a deeply sentimental man, can drive the 5-7 hours back to NC without incident and witness the delivery of his only child.
My husband never really belonged in a place where he was trying to make things better and improve quality of patient care: higher-ups in the corporation only cared about the bottom line, and the people who worked for him just wanted to do their jobs with a minimum amount of change & effort until they could retire. He is presently employed at the FDA, where he is surrounded by other people with the common goal of trying to make a difference, regulating the kind of profit-minded corporations he used to work for. He is going to be a lot happier there.
As for me, giving up tenure to work in my studio full time was terrifying, but I never regret it: the risk I took has given me substantial jumps in my career. I have had three quiet years to focus on my work, and my resume has doubled. Even in this economy, as I contemplate going back to teaching, I could never have imagined the twists & turns my studio life would take. I am forever grateful for the opportunities that life in NC has afforded me.
posted by Kate at 8:07 AM
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