Well, there has been a lot going on at The Havens this week, which accounts for my lack of presence in the blogosphere. Instead of doing chores that desperately need doing (like laundry, vacuuming, weeding, etc.) I thought I’d work up a quick update.
The big news around here is the robins fledged and left the nest on Sunday morning. I managed to get a quick picture of them right before they acceded to their parents’ demands that they venture out into the big world.
It was quite the three ring circus out there Sunday afternoon as the harried Mama and Papa Robin tried to get their easily distracted, poorly coordinated and extremely naive chicks oriented and organized. Yesterday as I was doing massage, I kept hearing insistent cheeps from the shrub where their nest is. I managed to locate the complainer, and get its portrait as evidence that they have survived the first extremely dangerous days out of the nest. While I was out there, I also saw the parents delivering food to two other places (the maple tree next door and the boxwood shrub by the house), so I am confident in reporting that so far, all three chicks have survived. Here is the one in the juniper that was stridently interrupting my massages all afternoon.
I went out and picked some flowers the other day, right after I did my Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post, and Jim made a comment that I should do a post on bouquets you can’t have unless you have a garden full of flowers. He’s right. When was the last time you saw columbines or bearded iris at your local florist?
The other news around here is that the economy and the recession have finally made their impact felt on me personally. I am trying to stay positive, because fortunately we are in a fairly good financial position. What happened was that a local company which for the last 14 years has been providing their office workers with massage as a taxable fringe benefit decided that they needed to cut costs even more than they already have, and eliminated this very beneficial program, overnight, with no warning, effective immediately. They have already closed one green mill and laid off a few workers. They did not eliminate corporate vehicles for their superfluous engineers, nor their corporate gas cards, but who am I to second guess the 100% male managers who made the decision on which programs and people to eliminate to cut costs? Were any of them getting massage? No. Are any of them doing 8 hours of computer work every day? No. Do they have cars and gas cards? Yes. Do I sound bitter? Probably. But if I sound bitter, you can just imagine what the people whose carpal tunnels I have been keeping in service for the last 14 years despite the lack of ergonomic work stations and adequate rest breaks they get must be saying and feeling.
I am fortunate this decision was not made five years ago, when the people from this company comprised 85% of my client load. Today, they only represent 30%, due to my diversifying my clientele over the years during the slow attrition as people move, retire, or use other massage therapists over the years. A major player in the change towards other therapists was a woman who decided that I must be speaking to demons because I have crystals in my massage room. She stopped coming to me, and while she has never bad-mouthed me (mostly because she knows darn well what reaction the “talking to demons” idea would get), she also makes sure that any new employee who became eligible for massage got told how wonderful HER massage therapist was. So wonderful that she wound up having carpal tunnel surgery and back surgery after she stopped coming to me, but maybe there is no correlation between getting proper therapeutic massage and avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome and back problems. All that research must be wrong.
Oh yes, I am angry and slightly bitter, but my feelings are complicated because I am also extremely grateful for the years that I did serve this company. It makes me sad to see them regressing from a posture that was quite progressive and far-seeing in terms of their employees health, morale and well-being. But I also realize that it is better to pause and regroup rather than lose your business entirely in these times of recession. And, to give the employees of this corporation credit, the increase in my clientele outside of the company is largely due to their selfless promotion of my business during the years previous to this. Because of that, I am in a position to weather this slight downturn. And some of them will be coming to me on their own dime, although probably not every week as they were when the company picked up the tab.
Life goes on. The birds fledge, flowers bloom and fade, clients come and go. The important things: our health, Jim’s love for me, mine for him, Jesse’s love for us both, these things continue on regardless.
I am blessed, and I live fully believing the blessings will continue. As my mother is fond of saying, ”This too shall pass.”
Well written, girl! An enjoyable, albeit unfortunate, post. This is why I say men (and I do digress from the subject somewhat…) should have absolutely no say on women’s rights in terms of abortion/no abortion. If they (men in your story) drive their fancy cars and don’t use computers all day and thus won’t likely get carpal tunnel, then they need to pass their vote on that one regarding the ones who might. Just like anyone with a penis should get no vote on a woman’s body. No if’s, and’s, or but’s. All right. I do feel better now, having gotten that out of my system.
Brenda
Brenda, I could not agree more. I believe that abortion is an unfortunate thing, but it is even more unfortunate to risk a mother’s life or to have a child that is not wanted. It has been shown that the fetus in utero is aware of the emotions of the mother, and if she is afraid, angry, or not wanting to have the baby but doing it because of pressure from outside herself, the fetus knows. How does that start your life well????
The “deciders” at this company are a coterie of cohorts who went to school with the boss of the company. Can you say “cronyism?”
I’m sad that you lost this important part of your business. I think the decision is penny wise and pound foolish, as more people will begin having problems now, and have no resort but to the surgeons and allopaths. It’s a shame.
Silverstar, thanks for your concern. I am sad I lost business, but the energy of the universe has always provided for me, and I trust it will continue to do so. I am more concerned about the people who will be experiencing pain they didn’t have to. But people always have a choice. They can decide to follow the path of least resistance and resort to the surgeons, or they can decide that they KNOW where they can get relief without surgery and come to me and make an arrangement of some sort.
I am very fortunate in that my overhead is very low since I work from home. If I don’t do a massage, I don’t earn any money, but I also do not spend money on oils, heating my room, or laundering linens. I can afford to cut my price if it is necessary, and I am not disinclined to do so. I have never been one of the massage therapists who feel that if I don’t charge “the going rate” (whatever it is), I am undervaluing my service. This is why I still charge only $30 for an hour of massage, even though the “going rate” hereabouts is $45. I’d be willing to work for less than $30, and have adjusted my rate for elderly fixed-income clients before this. I’ll do it again if I have to in order to keep someone from having to undergo surgery.
I find it weird that companies don’t invest more in the health of their employees as that is so important.
It’s good that you got this off your chest, we all need to vent our frustration from time to time.
And, the most important thing is that you really do realise what is important in life and what not. Good 4 you!
Enjoy your weekend and BTW I loved your bouquets!
Yolanda, I too find it weird. I also don’t understand why insurance companies don’t realize how much money they could save in the long run by paying for their consumers to use massage therapy services rather than surgeons, allopaths and drugs. One of my clients has rheumatoid arthritis and her usage of pain and inflammation medications has decreased because of her regular massages. Massage from me once a week costs less than half of what her pain and inflammation medications do.