As I ascended the famous Dupont Circle metro escalator this morning for my first day on the job I was, among other things, reminded that I was not in New York or Gulu for that matter. In what I think is typical DC fashion, there was a man performing “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” which echoed throughout the long climb to the surface. This seems fitting for the first day of the rest of my life.
The emails are starting to come in and meetings and road trips are already being planned. I’ve got a lot to think about and perhaps should make this entry quite short. However, I pause to acknowledge the inevitable moment of regretting how I spent the last three months of what I shall now refer to as “leave without any idea of when or if it might end.”
Should I have written the great American novel? (note: I say novel now instead of memoir after the Mortenson ruckus.) Could I have driven across country for the first time or at the very least gone to the Caribbean for a week? Would I have spent my time differently if I had known there would be a job at the end of the tunnel?
Well, I guess we’ll never know. What I do know is now it’s time to shift gears. I feel a bit like I’m playing work today instead of doing it. I know the work is coming, but for now I look outside my window, which overlooks Dupont sidewalk cafes filled with goat’s cheese salads and pinot grigios and I smile, because I’m not in Gulu. I’m right where I said I’d be…yeegads!
Love this! You even have time to blog on your first day of work. Good for you. I read it to Mom and we BOTH liked it very much. Mom literally said "that's what I call a real blog...I like the way she put that together." By the way, that's a compliment coming from my writer/English teacher mother! So glad you are right where you want to be...it's great to be able to say that with honesty.
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