After eight and a half months, 34 job interviews, one teaching presentation and four trips to the dry cleaners I can finally conclude this episode of job hunters. I would like to thank my sponsor - the office of unemployment compensation.
I don’t know what happened yesterday, maybe it’s what didn’t happen. Let me back up, I tend to be a little superstitious about certain things – like I can only buy lottery tickets with single dollars, I have to get a random pick and I’m not allowed to look at the numbers until they are drawn. When it comes to interviewing I have a lucky hair clip, I have lucky underwear – I have to be there exactly ten minutes early… I spend a lot of my time worrying about things that (apparently) don’t matter.
Yesterday I went in for the aforementioned teaching presentation; while getting ready I decided to kick it up a notch and wear my wedding underwear. I decided a little extra luck couldn’t hurt, I don’t usually wear my wedding underwear although if we are being honest meeting my husband was probably the luckiest thing that ever happened to me, but you know for the wedding I went for looks, not so much for comfort and well… it itches. (Is this too much information? Remember no one is making you read this). So I was all suited up and… itchy and when I went to do my hair I couldn’t find my lucky clip – it was no where. This is a bad bad omen because I don’t have a back up, there is no semi-lucky clip. There’s just the one I found under the bed while looking for the good one. A totally untested clip I was completely unfamiliar with. I hoped that my extra good underwear would somehow level out my luck quota back to where it should be.
Because of this serious dilemma I was running late getting to my interview – I got there only 5 minutes ahead of schedule and instead of having a few minutes to compose myself and inconspicuously adjust my underwear I was immediately whisked into the library where all the program directors where already sitting and waiting for me. I launched directly into my presentation and envisioned them all sitting there in their uncomfortable fancy pants underwear.
As soon as I was done I was sent away with a dismissive wave of a hand and a promise someone would ’be in touch’. The whole way home I cursed my missing hair clip – if only it had been tortoise-shell and not black I would have done so.much.better. I wondered if I had any singles so I could stop and pick up a lottery ticket (to balance out the universe and you know… make me not care that I would probably never hear from them again).
They called an hour later and offered me the position. I double checked that they knew who they were talking to ( to avoid any potentially embarrassing scenes late on). They assured me they called the right person, that they thought I did a great job and gave me all the details.
I can’t tell you what a HUGE weight has been lifted. I mean, I am very excited for this opportunity and to work at the place I will be working (purposely vague) but I am more grateful not to spend hours everyday scouring the internet for job opportunities, not to sit by the phone every day and wait for good or bad news, not to be disappointed again and again because I was beat out by someone with more education, better experience, luckier underwear. Now, I can change my voicemail message back to something stupid and funny, I can return my sister’s briefcase I can start saving money and planning for the future.
YEA.
Maine Photo Montage
This past weekend my sister, nephew, Lucy & I drove to Maine to attend the funeral services of our Grandmother Ginny. Despite the reason for the trip we had a really great time. I was concerned that being enclosed in a vehicle with my sister for 24 hours in 4 days might result in serious injury or psychotic breakdown – but we managed to weather the ride just fine. I was able to say things like “You two in the back, keep your hands to yourself. Don’t make your Aunt turn this car around!” There was one part of the trip where Lucy wouldn’t stop humming (really loud), and my nephew was telling us that she was stinky over and over and over again… I just put my head down and went to my happy place while I let my sister find a place where we could change her, at the end we became a dynamic team.
Being in Maine is always wonderfully relaxing and this past weekend was no exception, it was cool in the morning and evening – enough to have a fire in the wood stove and warm enough in the afternoon to go outside and play. Ginny’s service was nicely done and sad as these things go but I hope to be lucky enough to live to 94 and be in good spirits at the end.
This week it’s back to job hunting and interviewing but before I go into all that here are some pictures to document our trip:
Newsletter: Month 21
Lucy,
Now more than ever you are really becoming independent, you know what you want, you don’t like being told what to do – you want to do everything yourself. It is wonderful to see you learning how to figure things out for yourself.
Your biggest loves right now are: swinging, coloring, play doh, feeding the cat & dog treats, ripping the heads off flowers, riding bikes with the boys next door & bubble baths.
Your two most used words right now are ‘mine’ and ‘no’. You are a little ahead of the curve on the stubborn ‘terrible two’ phase. But even when you are saying no to everything you are still adorable and can usually be talked into whatever it I want you to do.
We got a chance to spend a weekend with Nana & Popo this month and you talked their ears off while your Dad and I went out for a few hours.
Since I have been home again this month we have spent a lot of time playing outside, getting to know our neighbors better and taking a few day trips with them. You love babies and there are several just on our block – you always get so excited whenever we run into one.
I love you – Mama
Stir Crazy
There are days since I have been unemployed that I relish in my hermit-like tendencies. I will keep the shades drawn and not even think about getting out of my sweats until after lunchtime. I think about how little I miss the stress and demands of holding down a job and speaking in complete sentences. I bond with my friends of HGTV and utilize text messaging to keep in touch with the outside world. There is definitely a part of me that yearns to live in an experimental bio dome or on the international space station with limited social interaction.
But there are other days, the other side of me that wants to badly to have a purpose and responsibility again. Part of me that craves conversations with adult human people. Conversations that do not center around if the dishwasher is clean or dirty or how many diapers we have left. On these days I want a reason to shower everyday, to put on pants that aren’t jeans and feel like I contribute to our household.
Recently I have had many more of the later days than the former. Maybe it was because just a week and a half ago I was in the final running for three really good job opportunities. Thoughts of getting back into the work force and dusting off my black pants had gotten me excited and pushed my inner-hermit into the back seat. Now, I am down to one option, the other two being ‘very sorry’ and wanting me to know ‘it was a tough decision but…’ I am holding my breath and not going anywhere without my blackberry.
Yesterday, going completely stir crazy I decided that I needed to run errands that didn’t really need running, I just had to talk to people. Ironically after three different stops I never actually uttered a word. I pumped my own gas, I scanned my own groceries and spent some quality time with a drive-up ATM machine.
I wonder if I should call NASA and see if the space station needs a librarian.
Lucy Garden
It’s amazing what you can grow with a little sunshine, water & ivy.
Newsletter: Month 20
Lucy,
One week ago you turned twenty months. Because of job interviews and ample amounts of gin (not together) I am way behind on this newsletter. This past month has been wonderful, we were able to go away on a family vacation and while we were away learned many valuable lessons, like if given the opportunity you like to do your own hair:
We learned that you are not a fan of heights:
And we learned that your favorite place is (still) at the beach:
Aside from our vacation you have made a lot of progress with communication, you can tell me lots of things that before were simply guesses on my part. Up until last week your favorite word was “more” – whatever you had you always wanted “more” of it. You have recently switched that up and your favorite work has become “Mine!” but that is a development that really belongs in your next newsletter.
You have become more and more a Daddy’s girl and when he’s not around you are always asking for him, when he is around you are all over him. You have learned to give real kisses, not just open mouth slobbery ones now, but pucker up and deliver good smacks.
You have gone back and forth between being a good eater and not touching a single thing we give you – but we can still usually count on your eating fish, yogurt, cheese and of course cookies, which is not only one of your favorite foods but also one of your favorite words.
You continue to be a good sleeper and have started sleeping in pretty much consistently until 8:00 on the mornings that you don’t have to get up for daycare, all of us appreciate this very much. You also continue to be enamored of the dog and cat, you will start asking for them before we get home. They are, unfortunately, pretty wary of you – the dog, or ‘pooches’ as you call him would rather sit upstairs by himself than allow himself to be given Lucy hugs and while the cat is more tolerant she still refuses to let you ride her even though she is the perfect height for you to throw a leg over…
The weather has gotten a lot better and we spend nearly every afternoon outside collecting rocks, digging in dirt and playing with the kids in our neighborhood, here you are in your favorite dirt hole:
This month you really blossomed into a little girl, it’s amazing to watch you grow up and discover more and more, to see you start to connect the dots on things like how conversations work, how to throw a ball or even how to pay attention during story time.
I love you so much – Mama
Since being laid off I have watched more HGTV than any 22 normal people should. I like the fact that every show is only 30 minutes long and do not require my full attention. It’s programming that only needs 2 minutes in the beginning and another 2 at the end – 4 minutes is really about all I want to devote to TV while I am applying for jobs, or folding the laundry or gazing aimlessly into space. Also I really like that there is no anxiety producing shows, I mean no one is getting hurt, there are no murders to solve and I find myself relatively unconcerned if someone makes a wrong color choice or mixes patterns incorrectly.
Because of this immersion I cant help but compare my search for a job to certain HGTV programming… I feel like six months ago I was a dated ranch house put on the market sure that my charm and character would win over any potential buyer, I mean employer. After three months on the market I finally broke down and contacted my career coach (aka stager) she completely updated my online presence, my resume my cover letter style – she branded me and I reluctantly allowed myself to be made over.
It was clear that is worked, suddenly my phone was ringing more often – I was in demand. In other words my dated 70′s ranch was suddenly transformed into the 21st century. I am currently in contention for three serious offers, nothing concrete yet but it makes me feel like a house hunter saying things like “well #1 comes with a bright spacious office and center city views, #2 is a quiet cubicle in an unknown corner of a back office & #3 is a desk directly behind an open counter where students will congregate all day long.” Location, location, location…
If only I could call Suzanne Wang and have her help me decide.
Video Tuesday
A couple of videos of Lucy, including her new somersault trick and a cameo by the cat. Pay no attention to our discussion of missing fingers, or my stupid pitchy whiny voice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsxBYFrV5Rw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr4rSLi0M6c&feature=youtu.be
Enjoy!
100!!!
It has taken me one year and seven days but I have done it – I have gotten to the 100th post. I wish I had something interesting to write about…
Seems like I should mark this occasion with something memorable – I was hoping to do it in the form of a subtle announcement of newly gained riches but alas the mega millions has alluded me just like every other lottery opportunity I have extensively explored in the past six months. But really who needs the headache of managing hundreds of millions of dollars… makes me tired just thinking of all of the phone calls I would have to avoid for the rest of my life. Of course anyone who really knows me would counter with the fact that I never answer my phone now and my current financial situation often finds me browsing at BJs for a lunch of mini quiches. Maybe things wouldn’t change that much, I could just stop hoarding so many free samples.
In other news Lucy learned to do a somersault all by herself last night, it was pretty awesome how excited she was and how very weary the animals are now of having her feet randomly landing on them. It will be awhile before she understands the spatial requirements for rolling her entire body over her head.
Yesterday in a job interview I was asked by one of the directors of the organization “what is wrong with you? I mean I’ll know in six months anyway, you might as well tell me now…” I answered with “I am just so awesome, no one really understands how awesome I am. If you hire me, in six months we will go to lunch and you will tell me that you now understand how hard it is to be me and live in this world of mediocrity.” My career coach has been constantly telling me I can’t have any modesty in job interviews. I really hope I get a call back…
To conclude this random hodgepodge of disjoined thoughts, I would like to leave you with this – Lucy from 1 year and 7 days ago & Lucy now:
A lighthearted missive about last week’s vacation
[Editors note: I would like to preface this entire post by saying that I just finished a heartbreaking novel about the Holocaust and nothing puts family into perspective quite like the Holocaust]
I have, what I would consider, to be a high percentage of friends whose biological parents are still together. I think this is weird, I mean even my husband’s parents are still on their first marriage. Personally I find it reassuring, I didn’t wait until I was 30-ah hem-something to get married if I didn’t want to be sure that I was mature enough to make the right decision. But, at the same time, I kind of feel bad for people who have limited choices of relatives to spend time with.
Thanks to my parents and their inability to stay together I have a surplus of factions within my immediate family with whom I can choose to hang out. I have step, half & whole siblings, I have parents, step parents and that woman who most recently married my father. In short, I have options and options are pretty cool.
I know it’s not possible for everyone to get along all the time and quite frankly if it wasn’t for an excess of booze I might not have half the close relationships I have. (Thanks booze!) What’s the point I am trying to make? That life is short and bad things happen to good people and if we don’t take the time to cherish the relationships that we have, however tenuous and long distanced they are than we are really short-changing ourselves.
I certainly should never be used as an example of good decision-making or righteousness but what I learned from both last week and German occupied France is that you need to hold onto what is important, you need to pass as much of that on to your children as possible and so you can experience stuff like this:
