Ground Duck

 I returned to work about five weeks after breaking my arm and leg.  I was bummed about being grounded for so long, but work kept me busy.  I probably wouldn't have gotten much jumps in anyway.

This was my plan
Work all week, visit the DZ on weekends, learn to pack, etc..  

My work project was supposed to end in March, about the same time I'd be cleared for jumping.  I figured I'd take some time off before starting the next project. Catch up on all the jumps I missed.  Maybe even spring for some coaching.  In the meantime, I'd visit the DZ every weekend and learn to pack.  (Sure, I'd taken the obligatory packing course, but I'm not convinced I can pack properly)

Here's what really happened.
The project kept me way more busy than I expected.   Evenings?  Still at work.  Weekends?  Guess where I was.  Oh well, I thought, I'll take a little break when I'm done.

Then came mid February.   My work filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.  We were for sale.  Whomever bought us had no obligation- an possibly no reason to keep us.

Well, I could still jump, right?  My inner critic was skeptical.

He had a point.  I couldn't regularly throw myself out of a plane with no income and no insurance.  Time to look for a new job.  There was just one catch- what I did for a living (VFX work*) is being phased out in the United States.  It's cheaper to have overseas artists do it.  Why should I get paid to do something if someone else can do it for a better price?  Time to switch careers.
But what could I do?  What was I good at other than my job?  Drawing pictures?  Storytelling?  Cracking jokes?   These aren't exactly marketable skills.  The inner critic chimed in again.

So I may be on the ground a bit longer than I expected.  But I'm not selling my gear.  I'm not sure what kind of job I could do, but job = jumps, and that's motivation.
Or should I jump anyway in the meantime?  Most of my non-skydiving  friends thought staying on the ground until I got the "job problem" was the right thing to do.   Some of my skydiving friends had other ideas...

*I was on the (large) team that brought home these, for example...