Sunshine and Freedom on the Puget Sound

It's been ages since I last blogged. To my few followers I am sorry for the lack of updates. To be completely honest, I was feeling so down in the dumps and sick of my situation that I could not even work up the energy to write at all. Fortunately things have begun to go my way, things are actually pretty good...imagine that.

For starters, I am no longer employed at the Pasta Warehouse (remember, this was an alias name)! Hooray! No more dark, windowless basements. No more occasional cocroach scuttling by my feet under my desk. No more counting other people's money. No more marinara and grease stained shirts or hideous non-slip shoes. I am free. I was able to give my general manager two and a half weeks separation notice and I worked faithfully to the end of my sentance. I did not burn any bridges either, in fact I built my resume and added to my list of people that will gush about me if asked by a future employer. Overall I would count these past six months as a success, despite my frequent feelings of loathing toward my job.

The second and most prominant source of my joyfulness comes from my new job (the reason I was able to quit the old one). As those of you whoe have spoken with me since I moved here know, I have had a really difficult time finding a job in the environmental field. I have looked and looked, applied, fasted, prayed, looked some more, applied some more, and fasted and prayed some more. It worked. I will say however, that it did not work until a very important thing happened--I volunteered. About two months ago I was at a point where I felt like I was going to be stuck at the Pasta Warehouse forever. I knew that something in my life needed to change for the positive. So, I thought to myself, if nobody will hire me to save the planet, I will try to save the planet for free. I joined the volunteer program at the Seattle Aquarium and fell in love with it. I was there because I wanted to make a positive impact on my local ecosystems and community, not for any monetary reasons. Within a week of starting the volunteer program (which is awesome) I was invited to interview at the Pacific Science Center and at Seattle Parks and Recreation. Within two weeks of that I was offered positions at both places. Imagine that, I go along with nothing, nothing, nothing, and then all of a sudden I could take my pick of jobs. I do not count that as a coincidence.

I chose the job with Seattle Parks and Rec. I am going to be working at a huge park (over 500 acres) that's only five minutes from our house. I am going to be helping to lead their children's nature camp for the summer. The job is 40 hours/week and pays significantly more than what I was making at my last job. Some of you may read this and think that being a glorified camp counselor sounds lame, but it is exactly what I want to be doing right now. This job has all of the things that I've been looking for in a job for years. It's a non-profit, I'll be working with elementary-age kids, I'll be helping design and build the camp curriculum, and most importantly I will be outside all of the time. I could not be happier with it.

I start my new job at the beginning of June, meanwhile I am taking a well-earned three weeks off. I will be hanging out at the aquarium and teaching people about octopuses, sea stars, sharks, and harbor seals. I plan on making a quilt, gardening, and brushing up on my tree, native plant, and bird identification. The beautiful sunshine we've been experiencing has cast my life in a bright and cheery glow. I am so relieved that I made it through the long, seriously dreary winter, and that the Lord resucued me from my nightmare of a job just when He knew I couldn't stand much more.

All that's left for now is for my dear husband to secure summer employment. He's waiting to hear back about a few internships, but as most of you know, waiting can be the toughest part of a journey.


While we are waiting patiently (as patiently as we can), we made a little trip to Salem over the weekend. It was my great-grandma's 90th birthday on Saturday! I feel so blessed to have had her in my life for so long. She is a beautiful, talented, and absolutely hilarious woman and I was so happy to celebrate with her. We were also very glad that we could see our mothers and step-mothers for Mother's Day and thank them for being so wonderful.

A special thanks goes out to some awesome friends that have helped cheer me up in these last couple of months. Jon Bletscher and Jen Nicola, thanks for being our awesomest friends in Seattle. We couldn't do it without your company. Leah Banick, thanks for 1) visiting me for a beautiful weekend of adventures 2) being such an amenable and fun house guest and 3) sticking by me for 18 years of friendship. I love you.

As a side note, I turned 23 last month. Since I felt 23 for all of year 22, nothing seems very different. Thanks to all of our friends who are older for thinking we are cool even though we are kind of babies. You're the best.