One Year Ago Today

One year ago today I made the move to Olive Branch to start a huge new phase of my life.  I had worked hard to finish my Master's and searched to find the right job for me, and I found it here in DeSoto County.  The past 365 days have been full of ups and downs, triumphs and tribulations, encouragements and obstacles, but I truly wouldn't trade them for anything.  I have changed as a person over these past twelve months, and I am not the same girl who stood unpacking box after box (after box after box... y'all know I have waaaaay to much stuff for my own good) in this apartment last July.  Circumstance, experience, and, most of all, life has changed me.
Here's a brief recap, a highlight reel, if you will, of the past year--in no particular order:

I joined a book club.  If you know me at all, you know how pumped this made me.  Currently we're reading 11/22/63, which is so completely off-the-chain-and-totally-worth-every-one-of-its-eight-hundred-plus-pages.

My mom was diagnosed with cancer, had a hysterectomy and began taking chemotheraphy.  She is doing remarkably well after 3 treatments (halfway... 3 more to go!), and she will start radiation treatment later this month, hopefully.

I survived my first year of work and fell in love with my kids in the process.  I'm not by any means saying that every day was a picnic, but I really do love my job and feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be.

I have made my apartment, my own little space in this big world, mine, and I truly love coming here at the end of the day.  My personality and who I am echoes throughout these rooms, and, as cheesy as it may sound, this place makes me happy! 

I saw 6 fabulous Broadway shows at the Orpheum.  This is probably my favorite thing about living in greater Memphis and, if I'm wholly honest, one of the reasons I searched hard for a job here.  The Orpheum consistently has the best Broadway lineup outside of Times Square, if you ask me, and I always look so forward to seeing productions there.  Over the past year I saw these gems:

I bought a new (to me) car.  The purchase was long overdue, really, but a huuuuuge commitment.  I'm so excited to have a new ride, though, and it's a good thing because I'll be making payments into my thirties.  (I almost threw up when I typed that, for several reasons.)

Most recently, I officially launched my calligraphy sideline business.  You haven't heard about it?  Well, by all means, please check it out here, and feel free to refer me to any and all of your friends/family/loved ones (shameless plug).  I'm really excited about it!

I am incredibly excited and hopeful as I look forward toward what's to come in the next 365 days.  There's no way to know what God has in store for me during the coming twelve months, but I am excited about the possibilities, opportunities and experiences that I know lie ahead of me.

A Little Life

"Sometimes I wonder about my life.  I lead a small life--well, valuable, but small--and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I haven't been brave?  So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around?"--Kathleen Kelly, You've Got Mail 

I love this quote.  Partly because, as you may know, I not-so-secretly dream of being Kathleen Kelly, but also because I wholeheartedly identify with what she's feeling.  Do you ever feel like this?  Like you've made all the safe, comfortable, path-of-least-resistance choices while other people have, with a few different decisions, happened upon existences that are almost larger than life itself?  I must admit, I do wrestle with these feelings sometimes.  I peruse Facebook or read blogs, and I marvel at peopl--many of them my same age or younger, mind you--whose lives are so grandiose and out-of-this-world that my  mind almost can't comprehend what I'm reading.  People who sell their houses and their belongings and set off around the world armed with little more than a camera and a passport.  People who get engaged at the base of the Eiffel Tower on a cold winter's night.  People who take jobs across the country--or the world!--without knowing a soul, merely packing their briefcases and carry-ons, bound for a life bigger than they ever imagined.

I used to believe I was a person who could do things like that--leave behind every relationship and possession I've ever known and strike out bound for something wholly new.  I no longer believe myself to be that kind of person, but what I'm not sure of is why.  What changed?

Like Kathleen Kelly, I too lead a small life--full, yes, but small.  I long to go places and see things and have experiences, but I can't imagine leaving behind the comfort of my friends, my family, my past, my bookshelf, or the flowers I've planted in my yard.  Does this make me a coward?  Does this make me complacent?  Or does this simply make me... normal?

It seems to me that the percentage of people in this world who lead these made-for-the-movies lives is probably rather small compared to those of us who lead average lives--go to work and the gym and the grocery store and fill our lives with the simple pleasures of our comfortable surroundings.  Let me stop and say this:  please know that I am not by any means criticizing that type of life.  I love that type of life.  I live that type of life.  It's just that sometimes, when I read these blogs or see these pictures on Facebook, I start to feel something.  Something I don't really care for.  It's not jealousy.  It's not awe.  It's not even a desire to run out, buy a backpack and follow in their footsteps.  I think it might actually be... inadequacy.  As if my life isn't worth as much because I don't have a picture in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa or I've never ridden a bike through Bali.  That's totally my issue, I know that.

And... it appears this post has gone to a place I didn't plan on it going.

That seems about right, though, with the way things are in my life at the moment.  With graduation looming little more than two weeks away (yay!!) and, to date, no gainful employment or plan for the future beyond May 13 (yikes!!), my life is pretty up in the air.  I'm filled with uncertainty and anxiety and excitement and second-guessing and, yep, inadequacy pretty much all the time.

"The odd thing about this form of communication is you're more likely to talk about nothing than something.  But I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings.  So, thanks."--Kathleen Kelly, You've Got Mail

Paid to Laugh

Do you ever think about your dream job?  The thing you'd do if you could do anything in this world you wanted to do?
I think about mine all the time, which probably doesn't come as a shock to many of you.  If talent, time, opportunity, and money were no barrier, I don't think I'd have any troublesettling down to a job I adore.  I have several that come to mind pretty quickly, actually.
Photographer.
Florist.
Novelist.
Host of a travel show.
Stand-up comic.
Bookshop owner.
Food critic.
Movie critic.
Book critic.
Writer for late night talk show.
Writer for SNL.
Singer on Broadway.
Costume Designer.
However, as wonderful as I think these would all be, there is one that stands out in the forefront as, in my opinion, the world's perfect job.  Here's a few hints:

Roseanne

The Wonder Years

The Office

Murphy Brown

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

All in the Family

Growing Pains

The Facts of Life

Saved by the Bell

The Cosby Show

Will & Grace

The Golden Girls

Seinfeld

Friends

Have some of my all time favorite sitcoms given it away?  So, here's the scoop.  If I could do annnnnnnnyyyything in this world, there's no doubt what I'd do:
Sitcom Actor.  I would probably even settle for sitcom writer, but actor would certainly be my first choice.
Let me explain why.
Top 10 Reasons to be a Sitcom Actor:
10.  If your sitcom is a success (and my dream one would be, of course), you would get paid loads of royalties.
9.  You meet amazing guest stars all the time.
8.  You get to bring laughter and happiness to the entire world weekly and in syndication for years to come.
7.  Even when sitcom families are disfunctional, everybody laughs and things are still funny.
6.  No matter what they are or how big, your problems are almost always totally solved in thirty minutes or less.
5.  You go to work everyday with some of the funniest people you've ever met.
4.  You work with some of the most talented writers in the world, and you get to be real life friends with them.
3.  You can watch your own gag reel and laugh all over again. As funny as gag reels are to the viewers, imagine how funny they are to the people who know how funny it was in the moment. Did that make sense?
2.  Your job would be hilarious.  Every day.  You're being paid to be funny, and the harder you laugh (and make other people laugh) the more you get paid.  Everybody wins.
1.  You get to go to weekly table reads, which look like the most amazingly fun things on the planet.
So, what's your dream job?  If there were no barriers and worlds of opportunity, what would you be doing??  I'm dying to know!