I'm sure we all do it, have those moments where nothing seems to be going right in our day or we're just generally dissatisfied with what's going on in our lives. I've felt that way a few times over the past year, mostly just due to the crazy transition I'm in. Trying to figure out where my place is now that I've graduated college (a year ago on Tuesday, crazy!) and moved from the very small pond that is the University of Richmond to the very large pond that is Chicago and actually, the rest of the world.
Once I snap out of those moments, I realize that I have a lot to appreciate in my life. I have fond memories of college and stay in touch with several friends despite being spread out all over the country. I am fortunate enough to be employed by the company that I wanted to work for, in the city I dreamed of coming home to. I have an apartment to call my own and even though I don't love it, I'm sure I'll appreciate the ability to look back on a very interesting first year out of college. I miss living with one of my best friends, but look forward to living with the love of my life in just two months. And living with a male roommate for a year before moving in with Dan has hopefully taught me a little bit about what it'll be like to live with him. 22-year-old guys do not like cleaning and seeing as I don't feel like playing mommy and asking Dan to help out every time the bathroom needs to be cleaned, we're going to have a lovely chore chart hanging on our fridge the day after we move in. I've also made some truly wonderful new friends that I can't believe I didn't even know 10 months ago, and reconnected with a few I've known since grade school. It's been a blessing to be back closer to my family, despite my rants about playing mommy in my last post. I'm also in better shape than I've ever been in my life and despite my father's comments about me looking funny when I run, I'm actually contemplating running the half marathon in Chicago next summer as part of the Autism Speaks team. As has been the case for the last 5 years, every time I feel a little left out when my friends are meeting new people, going on dates, and considering the possibility of what may be, I remember myself that I don't have to go through the pain of falling for someone and him not returning the feelings or wondering if I'll be getting a call after exchanging phone numbers.
And when my efforts to appreciate what I do have don't measure up, sometimes life throws me an extra boost. Twice in the past few weeks I've been lucky enough to have one of those moments where I'm just awestruck by how wonderful my life is. The first was just a random Wednesday night when i was lounging on my couch reading the third book in the Fifty Shades of Grey series (Lets see how many consecutive blogs I can mention those books in....I promise that's not my intent of writing) and just had that feeling that wow, life is amazing. The second was just last night, which is what inspired this post. For the first time in several weeks, in fact I don't even remember the last time it happened, my whole "work family" went out together.
Mike, Laura, and Dan are the three individuals who have made the past year not only bearable but actually enjoyable beyond belief (minus those days when I like to wallow in self-pity but they normally help remedy that as well). I can pinpoint the days in the first few months of work at Aon when we became friends. I met Laura on an Aon Linc boat cruise and we planned the first ECD happy hour together after she contacted one of my other IT ECD colleagues and he happily passed the duty onto me. Dan was I think the first person I spoke to on our first day of work and our friendship started after meeting for a drink after work at some random bar near our apartments. Mike came over for Dan's birthday dinner which turned out to be the start of many meals together. Both Laura's mom and my dad know the group as "those people you have dinner with every week". Although busy schedules frequently prevent us from having weekly dinners and even having lunch as a group at work has proved all but impossible, I rarely have as much fun doing anything else as I do when we're all together.
Last night we gathered at Laura's amazing new apartment and then went out to explore Lincoln Park where we'll all be moving in the next few months. We had a few, or maybe more than a few, drinks and fulfilled Laura's request to go somewhere fun, upbeat, and with dancing. It was just a random moment several hours into the night when we were all dancing together that I was struck by just how happy I was to have the opportunity to spend some time with some of my closest friends minus the pressure of work, family, and everything else life throws our way. So this post goes out to my newest, closest friends, who help give me these wonderful moments to remind me that life is a blessing. I'm excited to look back on our early days 15 or 20 years down the road just as I'm able to do with Allison, Elizabeth, Ellen, and others now.
No comments:
Post a Comment