it's amazing how things work out....

So on my way back to Boston from New Hampshire today, in my chest cold induced fog, I was thinking about things...nothing too serious, just kinda about how I got to where I am, etc. I was also thinking about the people in Haiti, and that made me think about how my blog ranting the other day seems kind of lame compared to all of those people who don't have houses, food, clean water or medical care. Meanwhile, I am sitting here typing this in my warm bedroom while eating chicken noodle soup and and english muffin surrounded by puffs with lotion and robitussin. I suppose I can't complain about my life when they are losing limbs because a fracture gets infected, at least I have all the essential things I need, and plenty of things I don't need. Anyway, as I was driving I started thinking about how I got to this particular apartment in this specific town in Massachusetts. I wanna share the story of how I got here, even though I have no idea how many people are reading this, and it very well could just be one or two people, but it is a pretty cool story anyway, so I figured I would write it down.

So, let me start back when I was a baby. (don't worry, this isn't going to be my whole life story, a huge chunk is left out!) So anyway, I was a baby and my mom wanted to exercise, so she used to go to this gym and do aerobics. She met a woman there who also had a baby girl. They started getting together and taking us to play groups and stuff and her daughter, let's call her J because I don't know if she wants me to use her name on here, so anyway, her daughter J and I became best friends. We were inseparable all through preschool, kindergarten, first grade and most of second grade. Then I moved to New Jersey. J and I kept in touch with this little photo book we had (J, do you know who has that at this point?) and we visited each other a few times, the last time being when I was about 10 I think, when I flew on a plane by myself for the first time and came to visit her in Quincy. So anyway, this is the huge chunk of time that doesn't matter to this story, so let's skip to college. J and I talked a few times via IM in college, and then my senior year I decided I wanted to try to make the move to Boston, both because I love it up in New England and because D is up here and eventually I wanted to end up here anyway, so I figured what better time than now!? Soooo, after applying to about a million teaching jobs and not getting any I was starting to get kind of depressed about the whole thing. After college I moved home for about a month and was working at a daycare center, and I was applying for jobs and looking at apartments randomly every so often, and one Saturday at the end of June I saw an ad on Craigs list for a summer camp art teacher at an elementary school in Arlington, Ma. I applied, thinking why the hell not, and assuming it wouldn't work out. They called me that Tuesday asking me to come for an interview on Thursday. I said ok, meanwhile in my head I was freaking out because that meant I had to figure out where the hell Arlington, Ma was and get there in the next two days. This is where J comes back into the picture. I got in touch with her, I can't remember how, but IM or email or something, and asked if she lived anywhere near Arlington. She said I could stay at her apt while I interviewed, and off I went. I drove up on Wednesday, feeling completely unprepared for an interview, wearing my mom's skirt and blouse and not having any clue where I was going. I saw J for the first time in many years, and I slept on the living room floor of her apartment that night. The next morning I went to my interview, left after and drove straight back to New Jersey feeling confident but not sure what was going to happen. The next day I got the call that changed everything. (I know that sounds cliche, but it's true!) They called me from the summer camp and said I had the job, but that I needed to start on Monday. I hung up the phone and started packing (at this point, it was Friday!) I packed, packed, packed, said goodbye to everyone that I could see in 48 hours, and D came down to help me move. We packed up his truck and drove to Boston. I guess this is a good spot to say where I was moving to. As soon as I found out about the job, I called J, and she said that one of their roommates had decided to move out, so they had an extra room. I jumped on the chance to live there for several reasons, 1) I already knew J and her girlfriend and knew they were nice, 2) the rent is super cheap, 3) the location is fun, 4) why the hell would I pass up an apartment offer? So, I moved in on Sunday night, D helped me set up my air conditioner (it was like 90 degrees up there) and put my mattress on the floor, and I pretty much went to bed. I started my new job the next day, and that has lead me to the job I have now.

That was a ridiculously long story, and I apologize, but I just find it kind of amazing that all of that happened within one week, and that was almost two years ago. Pretty freakin' crazy if you ask me! Things seem to happen when we least expect them.