Two Cents

This morning I received a telephone call from my dad's BFF.  I usually refer to him as my dad's boyfriend, but for those of you that don't know my dad, or know that he isn't gay, I'll call him his BFF.

I was extremely embarrassed when he called me at 9:30 this morning and I was still asleep.  In my defense, I went to the midnight showing of The Hunger Games and didn't arrive home until 4 am, but I was embarrassed nonetheless.  The BFF called to congratulate me on my job offers and offer me his two cents, as I had asked for.

He told me that if it were him, he would choose the job requiring travel.  He went on to explain that I am young and without commitments (read: single) and the Madison winters can be brutal.  He said I would probably enjoy and appreciate getting out of the city during the winters and exploring other parts of the country.  He also said that the traveling job would be a great resume builder.  He had a similar position when he was younger and gained a lot from it.  The money would also be a factor in his decision, but as he gave his reasoning, it seemed more like an afterthought than anything else.

I thanked the BFF for his input, and apologized again for being lazy and asleep so late.  He said if he weren't working, he would still be asleep as well.  I'm not sure if that made me feel better or worse, but I thanked him for his help and said goodbye.

When I pressed "end" on the call I was thrown back to square one.  As I digested what the BFF had told me, I realized that I wasn't, in fact, back at square one at all!  Everything he said were things I had considered, but things I had decided against on my own.  His two cents was worth a heck of a lot more than a couple pennies.  His two cents helped me to realize what I really want in my life now.

As exciting as the travel seemed, I have been doing that for years now.  It sounds far more exciting for me to move to a city and really start my life there.  After I graduated from Tulsa in 2008, I lived in Saratoga for five months before traveling with Garvey.  After an August and September back in Saratoga I moved to Thailand.  I traveled throughout southeast Asia during my time there, and moved back to Saratoga in December, and then New York City in January.  Right now, the last thing I want is to travel.  The idea of living in an apartment half the time and out of a suitcase half of the time doesn't sound so great.  Coming home and always having an empty refrigerator does not sound ideal.  Instead, I want to know Madison.  I want to join a kickball team.  I want to have a favorite bar.  I want to make friends.  I want to join a book club.  I want to date.  I want to have a full fridge.  I want to have a social life.  I want to bake.  A lot.

I'm choosing grocery store frequent shopper points over frequent flyer miles.  Thanks, Mike!

A job? Who me?

I was offered a job! Well, if we are going to get all technical about this, I was offered two jobs! Ahh!

So now what?!

Well, for one, it means I'm moving to Madison, Wisconsin. It means apartment hunting and furniture shopping. It means another new city. And oh my goodness, it means car shopping!! Yay! I don't even know where to begin. That was a blatant lie. I will start with car shopping. And I even know which dealership to start at.

But really, first things first. I have to decide what job to take! One pays more and would require me to travel about 50% of the time. The other job pays less and has little to no travel. At my interview I was more interested in the job without travel. I liked the position better, and I liked the idea of less travel. While traveling had originally sounded charming and exciting, when I took a closer look at the schedule, 50% of the time is A LOT of time! If I move to Madison I will want to live there and get to know the area. Can I do that if I'm gone half the time?

As I'm talking this out, I think I know what job to take, but those of you readers with far more life experience than myself, what do you recommend?

Okay, pause. I have a job! Woohoo!

Gosh, I'm on the train as I'm writing this, and I haven't told anyone yet! No one knows. People will know before this is posted, but right now it's my little secret. My little secret that I am very, very proud of. Something I'm less proud of: I started crying on the platform while I was waiting for the train. I nipped that in the bud, and only had to catch one tear on my cheek, but it happened.