Wait, wha?

Last night I went to bed a little after 10:00 and woke up at 12:30. Up until 5:00 when I fell asleep for the last hour before the alarm. I knew I wouldn’t sleep well last night but I thought I would do better than that.

The budget reduction announcement today was that no cuts will be made at this time. Complete stunner.

Thanks to two hours of sleep, my cognitive ability was mighty low. I reread the announcement several times to make sure my understanding was correct. There could be cuts next spring. I’m not out of the woods, but I’ll never be out of the woods as long as I stay with my current employer.

It was strange to read the email first thing. I was prepared to wait until midmorning when this type of news is usually disseminated. I was prepared to feel upset the rest of the day, because I’ve been through this a lot and that’s how it works. When the news was good, or at least neutral, I had to let that soak in. Gradually, I perked up. The smile I gave to people in the hallway was more sincere.

One of those people in the hall was my boss, whom I found looking at a display Eve and I have been working on. We set it up yesterday. The purpose was to help connect people. Essentially we had asked one group to send another group messages of encouragement, wisdom, advice -- whatever they wanted. They did this via electronic postcards that we printed and displayed. Given the season, and the need for the fronts and backs of the cards to be visible, we built a simple Christmas tree out of wood dowels (thanks Pinterest) and hung the cards like ornaments.

My boss has been aware of the project since we started. He didn’t stand in the way of it but I could tell he thought it was dumb. He’s asked several times whose idea it was, and I’ve always owned up to it. I read about a similar project and thought with modifications we could use it as a morale boosting, team building sort of thing. Response was decent, and it has been well received. This morning when I saw him standing at the tree reading the postcards he turned toward me, smiling. “This is very good. Really well done. Whose idea was it?” I was fine owning up to it when it had seemed like a dumb thing, but I shy away from anything that garners praise. Since I’d already claimed responsibility, I reminded him it was mine.

Given that I arrived at work ready to lose my job, getting a “well done” wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

It snowed for a short while today. Hope there’s a little bit more before Christmas.