I Found An Amazing Job
Not for me. I actually love my job, though I have momma guilt every day I leave sweet SL and travel five miles down the road to make not much more than what we pay her babysitter. But 10 years ago, I would have jumped on this job so fast they wouldn’t have had time to post it. Here it is:
Cup of Jo is one of my favorite blogs to read and I think getting to work with her would be amazing. When I lived in NYC all I wanted was an opportunity like this. Of course, I loved what I was doing at the time, but also understood that it would come to an end, as all introductory jobs do. And I also understood that I would probably run out of money before that. True prophecies. But what strikes me as most interesting is that I can actually check off most requirements for it. Blogger? Check. Experience with Photoshop/photo resizing/html? Check. Ability to scout out things? Double check.
Reading this blog post made me really homesick for New York. Reading about how I would be working with Jo’s team in either Dumbo or West Village just made me crave the cozy apartment I had. You know, the one with so little space I couldn’t have a full size refrigerator? I just went back through my notes and attempted to find photos of said apartment and failed. But I will and I’ll even post them so you can understand the smallness. In the meantime, I need to talk about how much I loved that apartment. It was literally a 12×12 room with an attached hall with closet and bath. But I didn’t love it for its size, or the fact that the windows had to be left open in the dead of winter unless you wanted a sauna treatment. I loved that apartment because even though it was Sullivan between Bleecker and 3rd it was dead quiet since I was on the courtyard side, overlooking a little water feature with turtles. I loved that apartment because an old man lived on the first floor who always called me “smokin” (he used to be a radio DJ) and I was sad when he died (after living in his 3 bedroom rent controlled Village apartment for almost 50 years!). I loved that apartment because it was across from an awesome wine bar and around the corner from one of my favorite spots that held bluegrass sessions on Wednesday nights. I loved being able to practically reach out of bed and cut on my Bialetti.
It’s easy to look back fondly on things that you love about places you’ve lived and ignore the other features of NYC apartments- namely, cockroaches the size of your hand, boxes of Cheerios that cost seven dollars, and the guy at the corner deli who would NEVER EVER GIVE ME CHANGE FOR THE WASHER even though I had a feeling he had a stash of quarters that filled up his back rooms. I loved living in the city. I always said living in the Village was like living in DisneyWorld- you never had a bad day, ever. Plus did I tell you about the day I was in my apartment and Phillip Seymour Hoffman was ACROSS THE STREET having a glass of wine? Play Six Degrees with that bit of information.
New York was also about hope. I think that probably thousands of fresh out of college students migrate to the city after graduation, looking for something- love, money, fame, a place in the world. And New York is iconic. It represents all that is beautiful and harsh about how we live. It’s cutthroat, but then you find the homeless guy on the corner sharing his sandwich with a hungry squirrel. Or, your wallet gets returned to you- minus the cash, of course, but at least with your ID. New York changes people, most of the time for the better. You learn to navigate the city, and you learn to navigate people. Once I was coming off of a Subway, and there was a woman yelling at a guy (this isn’t interesting). I guess he had run into her, and he was clearly a tourist. She said something along the lines of “F*** you! Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” and started down into the Subway, then turned around and said, “You know what? You should be THANKING me right now. I just gave you a genuine f***ing New York EXPERIENCE!” It was kind of hilarious. And true. But most of the people I met were wonderful, kind and willing and helpful.
When I moved back to North Carolina, I was sad to leave the city. But I also knew that what I was taking back were experiences I would never have in a smaller Southern town. I can pretty much get change for a washer whereever I need to. And I rarely have to break out my down coat (except this week- wow winter weather). But I love that there are still waitresses who call you “hun”, and I love being able to find a trail within 15 minutes of my home. I also love how different I am from that crazy idealistic girl who got on an airplane with two suitcases and a copy of the newest Harry Potter and made a life for herself on her own terms.Cup of Jo
