MY BOOMERANGS

I can't believe it - my baby girl is actually coming back to Texas! Oh, she's been talking about it for ages, but it's awfully hard to break away from a good job, to head into the unknown. To tell you the truth, I'm amazed that she managed to keep her job in San Diego this long. The only thing that saved her company, when the building trade tanked with the economy, and other interior design firms were dropping like flies, was landing a huge project in China. But that was also the main reason Alexis couldn't resign. She felt she owed it to her boss to see it through to the end, since they were going to need all the help they could get when it came time to go to China for the install.

The owner of her company recently married an Australian architect. His company keeps an office in San Diego, and he goes back and forth. He allows Lex's company to work out of the space rent free. Lex understood why her boss has been somewhat distracted, what with planning an Australian wedding and honeymoon, but she was a bit surprised when her boss came back to work afterwards seeming more distracted than ever. Plus, she didn't seem to be working very hard at rounding up projects for after the China job's completion. Lex started updating her resume' and portfolio, just to be on the safe side. Sure enough, her boss announced yesterday that the Chinese client had made cuts, and was unwilling to pay for the entire crew to travel to China for the install. Not only that, they only had enough work left to keep everyone working full-time through October, then hours would be cut. And, oh yeah, her husband was closing his California offices, and she'd probably be working from her home after that. She just couldn't understand why Alexis had a big huge smile on her face at the news!

The smile faded a bit once reality set in. Her finances are still a tad shaky from the last time her boss cut everyone's hours for several months, just to keep the business afloat, and moving is never cheap. She was really hoping to already have a job waiting for her, before she cut her ties and made the leap. She was also hoping to be able to add "licensed designer" to her resume' before she sent it out, but she's not taking the exam until next month, then you must wait 14 weeks before they tell you whether you passed or not! And, though Austin's economy has fared better than California's, who knows if anyone feels secure enough to be hiring right now?

S'kind of funny when you think about it. John's partner is really pleased with the contract work our son has been doing for him, and wants to bring him on full-time, but first, he needs to land a couple of firm contracts for the program that Austin is helping him to develop. Until then, it looks like sonny boy will be residing at the townhouse with John. Meanwhile, unless Lex manages to land a job in Austin in less than six weeks, she may end up downstairs in the guest room here for a while. I guess it's true what they say, though I did my damnedest to avoid it. This new generation is like boomerangs. You toss them out into the universe, and they come right back! Looking on the bright side, the holidays are going to be stupendous this year.

Come to think of it, maybe I should toss this out into the universe: Lex's real dream is to find work in the green-building industry, so if you have any leads or contacts, feel free to send them our way!