Some Days Are MUCH BETTER Than Others

It isn’t every day that everything seems to go exactly right.

But when it does….there is nothing better.

I was sound asleep this morning when the phone rang.  The lady identified herself and asked me if I was still job hunting.  Even from my dead sleep that registered somewhere in my brain.  I told her yes.  My chicken scratch regarding the name of the company and the address left a lot to be desired I discovered when I finally did wake up.

I walked in completely blind to the interview.  For the life of me I could not remember what exactly this company did.  I wasn’t sure how I was going to bring that question up.  She started me with some basic data entry work and then some 10-key.  I realized just how long it has been since I was truly accurate with a 10-key.  Test one was at 96%, test 2 was at 98% and the third was 99.8%.  I was glad to see that at least I hadn’t forgotten all of it!!

The interview was probably one of the most relaxed I have ever sat through.  I don’t ever remember any that seemed that quick and personable.   I did tell her that I had applications in Washington and Oregon because I wanted to be closer to my children.  I just have a hard time not being up front with that fact.  She told me the job was going to last 4-8 weeks at this point, possibly longer.  She also mentioned they are pulling in so many jobs that moving from one contract to another is also something that might happen.  She also said that her only problem she sees frequently that are a severe problem is that people hire on, go through orientation and training and THEN tell her they had vacationed planned and need a week off.  All I could do was laugh and tell her the only reason I could see missing a day is for a doctor’s appointment and at this time I didn’t have any in the near future.  She took the names and phone numbers of a couple of people and told me if they were good on references I would hear from her later in the day or tomorrow morning.

I left the interview and I called everyone who I had given her name to just to let them know to expect the call.  I drove out to my aunt’s house-I had not been there more than half an hour and she called and told me she would like to bring me on board.  She laughed and asked me if I had been expecting her to call today.  I could only answer no.

So tomorrow at noon I go sign the paperwork for a background check.  Not too worried about any felonies or even misdemeanors showing up.  I lead a very dull life.

And this is what I found when I opened my mail today:

I don't know how many people I have told, but while I was in college it was discovered I have a serious leaning disability when it comes to numbers.  No matter how hard I tried, no matter how many times I took the remedial classes I usually only made it to mid-terms before I was so lost I couldn't move forward.

When it was realized I was able to petition for an exception to graduation policies.  I had enough classes for an associates in Psychology (except the last class, it was a math course) and I had enough classes for my bachelor's in Political Science (but I needed the math classes).

My advisor, Dr. Donna Lybecker, (Political Science) was able to help me to petition the exception.  It was agreed that I would graduate with the associates degree for now.  I have the opportunity to return at some point and work for the bachelor's under the 2014+ standards.  They have changed enough in the opportunities for remedial course work I could easily complete what I need.

I will probably wait a long while.  Moving to where my children are and returning to a federal job, something challenging is higher on my priority list at the moment.

I figure it took me more than 20 years to get this far, I can wait a year or two to finish the rest.

All in all, a pretty good day.

I hope to see a few more like it in the future.

:-)

GEM's Girl

 

Baggage vs Love

    At some point in everyone's life there comes the opportunity to leave the past just there, in the past. It is always easy to talk about the emotional baggage we bring with us no matter where we go. But I have to wonder, do we really bring that baggage along with us because we have no choice? Or, are we just not willing to let go of it because the alternative, the brand new and unknown? Is it so scary we don't believe we can take it on?

  There are certainly times when putting that luggage in the lost, but not found, pile is is the best choice. Why then why is it extremely difficult for us to see that while everyone else wants to know why we are so blind. Again, I would have to say it is more likely that we are scared of the challenges of the unknown than the miserable, tolerable or just stagnant familiarity of where we are, or where we have been for way too long.

   Maybe, and this is just an assumption, we also fear that any dramatic changes to our lives are going to require explanations that we are just not willing to give.  Sure, there may be the story we tell everyone and it makes sense, but is it really all there is?  Honesty is always the best policy in life, but all of us are guilty of omission, it is just easier sometimes to not explain the whole story  Sometimes that story deserves to be lost, even lost from our own memory, we just need to be able to truly find a way to let it go.

    The argument is that we all grow from our mistakes, our pasts and our luggage.  Maybe and maybe not.  How many of us are guilty of saying "there is no way in hell I will ever get caught up in a mess like that again" to find ourselves wondering how the hell we are in the same place only the scenery is different.?

    What is funny also is that we pick and chose the people with whom are lives are transparent with.  Unfortunately, sometimes we have to learn by trial and error, getting burned learning who we can trust and who we cannot. Those are the hardest lessons in life. Once trust is broken it will likely take a miracle for it to be restored.  While miracles happen everyday in this world, there are some that were never meant to. Owning up to that truth can be the hardest lesson every person ever learns.

   Life is all about chances I guess.  If you don't take them you don't know where you will end up.  If you do take them  you still don't know where you will end up.  But what isn't left to chance is the whom you continue to let be part of your life, those whom you will let go even when it breaks your heart, and then those who you find that the day you never thought you could get through you were unhurt faster and than with less pain than you thought was possible.They say 

"There is no such word as Loved.

                    Love has no past tense.

   

                   If you ever stop loving someone

                   Then you never truly loved them in the first place."

    So does love then become the baggage we carry? I don't believe so, love is knowing it was a part of your life and you are grateful for what it gave you in the time you had it.  Love is knowing there is something better waiting even though it wasn't necessarily what you planned.  Love is knowing that should life stay stagnant we no longer grow, our dreams and our ability to become better tomorrow than we are today fades, it allows us to find ourselves in a rut we don't know how to get out of, allowing the destructive cycle of "baggage" continue.

    Love them while you have them, cherish their memory always, but allow that sometimes luggage needs to get left in the terminal, let someone else find it and put it to use.  Maybe that connection is more meant to be.

GEM's Girl