Working Toward Not Washed Up Yet

I used to think that "not washed up yet" was about bouncing back after twenty-some years working on ABC soaps came to an end. What I have begun to realize, however, is that it is also about continuing to bounce along with the other changes in life. For, you see, how I am now, while perhaps greatly affected by the changes that happened four years ago, is also about the changes that have happened since. While I have been reacting to the absence of long-term work, and the daily relationships and secure bank account that went along with it, I have also been adapting to the aging of my children and the overall changing of the world. The disappearance of two ABC soaps (not to mention assorted other NYC soaps along the way) was a big one, particularly for those of us who had spent our lives on them, but it was not a change that happened in a vacuum. So, if I am to be truly "not washed up yet"--if any of us are--there is bouncing to be done at every turn. We must be able to bounce as our kids' needs change. We must be able to bounce as the requirements for looking for work change. We must be able to bounce as our daily schedules vary and our daily responsibilities shift and our place in the world never seems the same from one day to the next.
 
I used to think that "not washed up yet" was a reaction--a fighting back response to a major change in my life. Turns out that it's a little bit more. It's about bouncing back almost daily, and discovering bounce in yourself even when you think you can't bounce any more. Moving on from soap life may have been the beginning. But I suspect that continuing to be "not washed up yet" will be going on for a long time.