The easiest way to describe last fall is this:
September 16, 2024, our 16-year-old Jack Russell, Kaylee died.
Kaylee’s death was the freight train that broke the camel’s back, and I spent most of September to December trying to get back on my feet. Mostly, I’ve failed.
Sometimes, maybe once in a lifetime, that’s okay.
In December, I quit my job. I needed to rest. The house needed the help getting back on its feet. Nathaniel and I needed to heal from a hellish 2024. It wasn’t going to work if I was working 40 hours a week on top of everything else. So I quit.
I’m calling this my “gap year” because I was definitely not one of those kids who could afford to take a year off between high school and college to go hiking across Europe. My gap year’s running 30 years behind everyone else’s, but that’s ok. This is when I need it.
My goal for 2025 is to take a year away from the 40 hour structured work week. Most of my time since January 1 has been spent on household paperwork and financial tasks. I’m doing some (at the moment) light consulting for a startup. I’m also writing a new edition of the Alphabet of Accessibility, participating in the IA Conference, and revising my business website to become a more friendly landing place for those looking for IA / UX / Accessibility consultation work.
(If you hear of anything involving accessibility, design systems, or UX that’s in the 10-20 hour a week range you’re welcome to throw it my way.)
I’m also planning to bring more articles about component design and usability and accessibility to this site, so if there are any topics of interest, let me know. (I’m @kirabug.com on blue sky).
And in the meantime, we’ll take one day at a time for a little while.
