Some Vast Eternal Plan

It's probably a jinx to mention it, but it feels like there's been a bit of karmic rebalancing going on in my professional life lately. For as long as you've known me - for as long as I've known me - I've struggled, struggled, struggled financially. That hasn't changed, although some things are easier: my nephew has gotten his own apartment (and doing well! Two jobs, two cats, good friends) and of course there's no need for heating oil in summer.

It started slowly, this shift in the wind. My two biggest wholesale customers had been placing smaller and smaller orders. Then I lost two consignment accounts in the spring, accounts that I counted on for steady checks, if not large ones. I started hustling hard, emailing and phoning stores, and Handworks in Blue Hill took me on. A couple of web sales trickled in, for a little cash and a much needed morale boost. Then I got a couple of mid-sized orders from old accounts I hadn't heard from in a while, which was a nice surprise. Then before I could even finish the wetwork for those, three higher-end stores - stores I hadn't even called - contacted me about carrying my work. Then I had a handful of calls about building websites, and took on a few projects. (I'll show you those when they are ready!)

I haven't yet seen the money from these events, but the air is great with potential, like thunderheads promising relief from a heatwave.

When I lost those two accounts in a short span of weeks, I feared it might be the end of my days as a full-time potter; perhaps, I thought, my long run of staying improbably afloat had come to an end. Because I have more guts than brains, I clung on with my fingernails, trying to make something happen, and - lo! - things started happening, but not, mostly, because of anything I did. Just random event clusters...a series of unfortunate events, then a series of fortunate ones.

I'd like to believe somebody up there has a plan for me, but if so, could we tweak it just the teensiest bit? "I realize, of course, it's no shame to be poor. But it's no great honor either."