Changes, Part Deux

Well, almost five months since my last post and, children, they have been one heck of a roller coaster ride. You know that feeling you get in your tummy, just as you are getting to the tippy top and know you are about to go zzzzooooming down at a bazillion miles an  hour?  And you're excited and scared and happy and terrified, but in a good way because you know that somehow even though you are scared witless, it is all going to be okay.  So you put your arms up, take the plunge, going "Woooooohoooo!" all the way.  Up and down and up and down and up, a couple of loop de loops, you start really regretting that last cotton candy you snarfed down, but you know it's all good.  Well, throw in a couple of almost-anxiety attacks, one almost meltdown, a bunch of friends (my coven!) helping out, just by BEING THERE, changing jobs twice in less than two months, having to decide in 5 seconds whether to go for a job where you'll be making less money but you will be really happy to get up in the morning, add a dash of redecorating/ decluttering fever, give it a good stir, pour into a chilled martini glass and voila!  My last five months. I didn't even post anything to my favorite blogs, but I still read 'em and like I told one of my favorite people ever, Ms. Frances Schultz, when I recently finally posted a comment on her (marvelous, lovely, wonderful, always makes me laugh and think) blog, her post about trusting the sky you are under has been referred to A LOT these past five months.  Her blog, my beloved Whimbles, my friemiliy and last, but certainly not least, my faith, kept me on (sort of) even keel.  I am sorry to say that at one point I was so overwhelmed by all the changes coming at me from all sides, that I missed one of my very favorite author's book signing.  I've written about her book before, Scenes Everlasting.  I love that book, have one on my nighttable, one in my purse and one at my office. That book is a little gem. Look it up on amazon.com, it can also be purchased at Books & Books in the Gables.

That little book and the "trust the sky you are under" post were much referred to these past few months. Even at the bumpiest of times, I knew it would all be okay.  Don't sweat the small stuff and, truly, a LOT of the stuff we stress about IS small stuff.  Compared to what's really out there. Serendipitiously (I think I just made that word up) enough, starting in March when I was handed my walking papers, I started meeting the kindest people.  Waiting in line to renew my license, I started talking to a very nice lady who was there with her granddaughters (she is raising them, her daughter having passed away), the oldest one was getting her restricted license.  We got to talking and as I was leaving, having taken my new (truly awful) picture for my license, we shake hands and she closes her eyes and says "Child, child, you have a great light shining on you.  There are wonderful things headed your way.  God loves you and He has great plans for you!"  Well, I had not found a new job at that point and I can tell you, she just made me feel great.  Another day in Publix (of all places to have a religious experience, I think Publix is pretty much way, way, way out there) I'm trying to get a bag of (what else) cat food, which of course was way out of my reach (there seems to be some sort of conspiracy against short people, just sayin') and this very nice (and tall) gentleman pops up out of nowhere, hands me the bag and when I thanked him, he smiled and said "You have light all around you."  That gave me the willies and the warm fuzzies at the same time.  But I felt great peace all around me when I looked at him.

A few days later I was sitting in my car waiting to go to another interview, I'd been to a few by then.  One I had really liked, two others were okay but I had a gut feeling they were not for me. (My dear friend and Faboo Fleaing Fairy GodMother Steph drove down to go with me to my first interview and then we went out for lunch, one of the many reasons I love her, she is true through and through.) So, there I was sitting in my car, waiting five more minutes to go into the interview. It was with an attorney I had worked with and really liked, we had worked at a fabulous, wonderful firm where I was really happy, then it got "absorbed" into another firm and things just went kaput.  He was looking for an assistant and a mutual friend recommended me, my wonderful former boss was one of his partners at that firm and had also called him.  Just as I was getting ready to turn off the car and go in, the phone rang and it was the first job I had interviewed for (and really liked) calling with a job offer!  I said I was about to go into another interview and would call them back.  This new interview went great, I felt really comfortable and liked the attorneys and the HR rep who interviewed me.  It was great to see my former co-worker, he is very calm, serious, just a really nice person.  I knew they were going to call me, but something just told me to go with the other offer. I felt not the best about turning his job offer down, it was a really good one.  But, it all turned out okay.

Okay, I will not lie and say I was not worried, I was, but still somewhere way down deep inside I knew it would all be fine. I just had to open myself up to the Universe and let the good, the positive, the joyful flow.  Which is not always easy when working with attorneys, sometimes you REALLY have to make the effort to stay positive, because what you REALLY feel like doing is going over the fence and layin' on a whooping.  But, nope, you take a deep breath and another and another, say an Our Father, or a dozen, and keep on trucking. All sorts of odd little things kept happening and/or popping up. Like the song Happy playing every day as I battled traffic on the way to my new job.  Several days I would hear Happy, I'd be bopping along at the top of my lungs "Because I'M HAAAAPPPYYYY!" and right after it my other favorite song would play and I would be sitting in traffic belting out "This is gonna be the BEST DAY OF MY LIIIIIIIFE!"  Thankfully the windows were always up and I was never pulled over for noise violations (ha ha).  Seriously, the oddest little nice things just kept happening.  One of my neighbors would come knocking on my door after a particularly LOOOONG day bearing soup or some other deeeelish offering from their homes. Someone would hold the elevator for me, or open the door. One day a homeless man I see off and on was walking up and down, doing his thing, I rolled down my window and scootched up all the spare change I had in the car, he beamed at me and said "God loves you, sweetheart, you have a blessed day!"  He made my day. Little things, really, but they just made my roller coaster ride ever so much nicer.  It was like the Universe was telling me "It's all good, we got this.  It's handled."  And it was.

I started my new job and it was good.  LOTS of paper, phone calls, I hit the ground running and every single day got home feeling like I had just run a marathon. Really liked my new boss.  Really missed my old one. I always told her she was my last attorney.  New people were all quite nice, but somehow I knew not to put down roots, something else was just around the corner.  And it was.  You've gotta trust those gut feelings.  About a month and a half after starting my new job, I was offered another one, doing something I really enjoy and had been wanting to get back into.  I was offered the job on a Wednesday afternoon, had to make a split second decision and I went for it.  Thursday I went in and resigned, giving essentially no notice, as the next day, Friday, was my last day.  I was able to take a few days off before starting my new job and they were blissful.  Now I knew why I had the gut feeling to turn down the job offer from the attorney I worked with before.  We have a  history, we know the same people. A very dear friend had recommended me, my former boss had called him, he made time in his very busy schedule to set up the interview.  He has a very challenging job, yet he made time to interview me. And he offered me a great job.  Which my gut feeling told me to turn down.  Now, I did not feel all that great about giving zip notice at my new job, but I would have felt MAJORLY lousy if I had done that to him, I would have felt like I was doing a disservice not only to him, but also my friend who had recommended me and my former boss (who I still miss).  I did like my new boss, he really is a decent sort, but it wasn't like we'd worked together for years.  Happily, however, an assistant who started about a week after I did was REALLY unhappy with her boss, I suggested she take over for me and she was really happy for that chance.  So, it all turned out nicely.  I have a  job doing something I really enjoy and so does she.

In the past few months I have seen the best in people and also the worst. When I was told my position was being "phased out," which was a lot of hogwash, I was not happy.  But, you know, if I ever bump into the squirrely individual who instigated the whole thing, I am going to give him a hug.  His disagreeable actions turned into a great opportunity for me. I would have never left my former boss otherwise, as I was determined to stick with her through thick and thin. She was very good to me and we are still great friends.  These past few months I have had unusual encounters with complete strangers, is there such a thing as partial strangers?  My faith has been reaffirmed.  I am grateful for this wild roller coaster ride.  It is turning out to be quite an interesting summer.  Surrounded by faith, friends, memories, joy, laughter, spending time in my cocoon, I am reminded, yet again, I am blessed, I am blessed, I am blessed.  After one heck of a ride, I  have arrived at a good place.  Fall, my favorite season, is peeking around the corner.  My worries were tempered by my faith, by my friends who just glommed around me and made sure I knew they had and have my back.  I no longer walk on eggshells, it's been a while since I actually could say that.  Which reminds me of one of my favorite Bible verses, Matthew 6:34, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself ...."  Truer words were never spoken.

Before I forget, please, pray for our country, for the innocents, for the world, it needs a lot of prayer.  We need  to come together, somehow to realize we are all one. But that is a post for another time.  For now I am signing off, my furry progeny anxiously await their bedtime snackies, I  have a stack of interior design magazines waiting for me, soft sheets and fluffy pillows beckon.  Welcome August, summer is 3/4 over.  Until next time, be blessed, take joy and keep the faith!