Timing is Everything

My timing has always been a little off. I was born on December 4th, and the condition for starting kindergarten in my town was turning five by the end of November. That meant I was always the oldest in my class, since anyone born just a few days earlier was a grade ahead.

Although I can’t really be blamed for the timing of my birth, many of the choices I’ve made as an adult have that same “close, but not quite” quality to them. The past two years, in particular, have been fraught with near misses, mainly related to the economy. First, my husband and I decided to buy another house so some family members could move closer to us. We found a nice little house at a great price, snapped it right up, and began some much-needed renovations – less than a year before the housing market collapsed. Next, I decided last summer that it was time for me to transition from a 15-year career in academic administration back to being a full-time college professor. I did some careful calculations, since this decision meant a pretty substantial salary reduction. My calculations included the annual raise promised for last fall. I finalized all of the arrangements, then sat back and watched the economy tank, taking that last salary increase along with it. As if not getting the anticipated increase isn’t bad enough, now the university is talking about the possibility of furloughs. Last, but not least, after years of making jewelry for family and friends and selling it on a small scale, last December I decided to get serious about selling online. That was not long before the news organizations began to report a sharp decrease in consumer spending. This was like pulling off the hat trick of poor economic timing!

Well, there is a good side and a bad side to almost everything, and timing is no exception. While I got tired of having to explain why my age and grade level didn’t seem to match up, my ill-timed birthday paid off in popularity when I became the first in my class to get a driver’s license and the first who was able to legally purchase alcohol (this was back in the days before the national drinking age, so for me that was the tender age of 18).

What about my economic timing? If my timing were better, I would have kept things exactly the way they were. My relatives wouldn’t be planning their move, happily talking about the things we can all do together when they live close by. I would be planning to stay in a soul-crushing administrative job for the rest of my career, instead of eagerly returning to doing what I love. And, I would keep making jewelry for those close to me, never taking the chance to see if I could turn my creativity into a small family business. I don’t regret making any of those leaps of faith when I did, because I know that waiting would have meant never leaping. Maybe bad timing is better than no timing at all.

Do I worry? Of course! We’ve cut back on most of the little luxuries we used to take for granted, and bigger luxuries are out of the question. But, the biggest luxury in this economic climate is the ability to make choices. This terrible recession has stripped many Americans of their jobs, their homes, and their ability to make choices for themselves and their families. My family is fortunate. I chose to return to a position with lower pay, but I have a secure job that I can feel good about. We are choosing to turn down the thermostats, but we have homes with heat and warm sweaters to wear. We’ll choose to plant more vegetables than flowers this year, but we have a garden to help feed us. We even have a little something left over each month that we can choose to give to help those who are less fortunate. We are truly blessed.

For all of you, I wish many choices, many blessings, and just a tiny bit of bad timing.