Passion, Fruit

Sometimes you are just sitting in a really fine place, having a good tea, thinking or writing an email to a wonderful friend, and a Whiskeytown song comes on, and man, it is just so overwhelming. How good life is. How sweet and warm and perfect it can all be. How friends make your life so rich. How a little sadness and quiet time around the edges of your life make the laughter and fun of a night out with a couple of crazy kids that much more rewarding. How many things there are to miss, how much you miss those things but know that your life is so much better now. You think about all of the gifts you've been given, how undeserved and underappreciated this uncountable wealth. And you tear up a bit, the good tears, and take a deep breath and hope that no one will really notice.

And you thank God for Pandora and passion fruit juice and the people that she's blessed you with in your life and their kind words. And you look forward to good times, so many more good times to come. So many, many times.

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This week has been challenging. I'm working at a new office, learning new duties, meeting new people. For the first few days it all felt so surreal; I worked at the same office for two years, so this new thing felt like a temporary training exercise, an experience to conquer before returning to my comfortable, familiar old haunt and coworkers. As the week wore on, the panic began to creep its way in. This is my new situation, like it or not. And, oh no, I don't really like it.

But meeting the new officemates has been wonderful. Everyone has truly been so nice to me. I quickly developed a crush on one of my new coworkers. She is the kind of girl who is able to have a fully-formed, witty but low-key adult conversation with you the first time that you ever meet. She talks to you like she's known you for a while. This is a strategy that I often try to employ myself upon meeting a new person. It doesn't always work. Personality thing. Some people like to keep you at a distance and work their way towards warming up. Knowing Katie feels like wearing a comfortable old sweater. That sounds terribly strange and unromantic. Oh, she's so pretty also. Don't tell her. Crush, crush, crush.

(Don't wonder about this. You've had crushes on boys and girls that go against your sexual orientation also. Yes you have.)

Walking home from work in the evenings is a wonderful new therapy. I'm lucky enough to be living a mere ten Chicago city blocks away from my new bank location. I'm finding that at the end of a stressful day, there's nothing like a nice evening sunshine stroll to release the tension and debrief from whatever unpleasantness you've faced. Also, I love my neighborhood so fully that walking through it, people watching, checking out the new window displays, laughing at the ridiculous sunglasses, and greeting the Streetwise vendors is a joy no matter the quality of the hours that proceeded.

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I got fingerprinted today. I feel like I've been fingerprinted an inordinate amount of times in my adult life for a non-felon.


Currently
Catching up on this final season of Lost