The Puppet Mistress

The Puppet Mistress
Originally uploaded by AmericaninCanada.

A day of mixed emotions.

On the one hand is the terrifying reality that there's no money coming in after today. No job yet for me, and no word on a new project for Shell. The weight of the unknown is heavy.

On the other is relief that my wife will actually have a break from the grinding production schedules, long commutes, and deadlines. She's worked so hard and has not really had any kind of vacation in 4 years.

That's the real paradox at the moment. Time but no money with which to enjoy it. Rather than some money but no time to enjoy it.

Last night she grabbed me in the kitchen, sort of fell into me, wrapped her arms around my neck and said, "wouldn't it be great to go somewhere nice and warm and just do nothing".

She wants one of those all-inclusive vacations where you don't have to worry about anything, it's all set up ahead of time.

We're doing our taxes this weekend. Maybe we'll get a nice surprise and get a fat return and if so, we can survive the break AND we'll take that vacation yessiree!

But that will need some finger crossing and number crunching (hey those things I'm REALLY good at).

But for today, I just want to celebrate my gal. Here she is hard at work at the old studio.

When I was writing my post(s) yesterday, I was thinking about what I'd say today on her last day. I didn't want to repeat the mushy of yesterday. So I started looking through some photos and thinking and it dawned on me....

When I brought Shell back to Canada in the spring of '02, she went to the studio to let them know she was back in the country and without a project.

She soon got the clown show and she's been steadily doing a variety of shows since. Almost 5 years. That's actually kind of remarkable in her line of work considering all it takes to get from point a to point b in television production.

In fact when she came back from working on Phantom Investigators and The PJs in the States, to Canada, the studio was in a completely other building. Now they've moved to a third. But the bulk of that five years was spent there on that 5th floor, day after day.

I'm so proud of her. I hope I get to take her someone warm and sunny and soon.