The Layoff

I was laid off in November 2025. I planned to be there until I retired and this came out of nowhere. My world reeled.

To a Bridge

So this safari, a dream of a lifetime, now represents a transition. I set up and paid for the safari months ago, when I thought life was stable. Funny, this was the first time in my life I felt that way. I know everyone is expendable. And there had been layoffs in each of the 3 previous years. The company that made employees a priority was no longer due to changed leadership and enconomic pressures.

So by accident, it is in its own way a bridge from before, when I was working; to now, when I’m not; to my future, when I may be on a fixed income or may be working or who knows. (Disclosure: the term fixed income scares me to death.)

But it wasn’t just that I had already paid for the safari. I wanted to make a concrete action of faith. My MO has always been to scrabble into a cave, cancel everything, and stop spending money. This time I wanted to claim, “Yes, I will be okay.”

To Why This Record

I didn’t even consider writing any of this until a friend said I should record a blog about the safari. I had chosen Working With Wildlife in South Africa, which is not a photography experience but actually working in conservation (without having to live in a dorm). I describe this more in

I know life is full of transitions. A divorce. A death. A realization that something needs to change. Change is scary and painful. But can it also be a blessing?

However, even the idea of me, an introvert that borders on being a hermit, going to Africa, renting a car, finding my way, and navigating it all is so terrifying I don’t know if I can do it. On the other hand, if I don’t go I will never forgive myself so I will go. And then come back. And start over.

This blog accompanies that journey. From the shaky starts, the trip, to the return, and then…what.