About Me

I'm a 30-something girl shaping my life to be what I've always wanted. I've been incredibly fortunate to have never dealt with any major mental health issues despite both parents having many. I can't believe the luck and take none of it for granted. I hope to reach out to others who may live the same life.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Home on the Range

After a full year of living in South Carolina, I am here back where it all started for me in my hometown.

There were pluses and minuses of living that far away in a place where I originally knew no one, but ultimately, I have absolutely no regrets and even miss it all.

In that job and that place, I was able to get to know a new culture. The South in general has quite a few dissimilarities from the North, but South Carolina itself is a very unique member of the South. They boast of their involvement in the Civil War and often have not completely come out of that era. They drive...well...interestingly enough. Need we go back to my Caution blog, in which I was nearly hit by a diva in an SUV or refer back to the day that a very large load of construction insulation came flying at me while I flew at it at roughly...oh 70 mph. See results of this mess pictured here.







And the heat! The following pic was taken in my car on a COOL day last April in SC. You'll see the temperature on the top right portion of my car display. My oh my was I in for a surprise.

Fortunately for me, I got out of there before the heat started again. At the end of April it will begin to be in the 90's and 100's and it won't stop for many months. It's sort of the opposite of what we have up here in the North...only here we have a minimum of 6 months of snow. Usually more like 8 months. And so, I go from one extreme to another, but I will have the summer here before I have to adapt to the bitter cold.

What I did love about living so far away the most was two fold: The job and the people. I felt incredibly lucky to work in a place where all I had to do was walk outside of my office to see such wonderful things as wallabies, tigers, baby giraffes, baby koalas and of course, elephants! How could I have gone wrong in that sense?

And the people...I miss them, and I miss seeing them each day. To the right you will see a picture...of the picture...that they made me. All the messy paint is the love sent from the animals I worked with while at the Zoo. The lorikeet, the hedgehog and the blue-tounged skink to name a few. In the center you will see a collage of pictures taken of me while working my year at the Zoo. Fond fond memories. This reminds me very much of the picture that my friend Maria made for me when leaving Wisconsin. I have made a point to put both up in my bedroom so that I can remember all the good times and good people I have met along the way.

I do hope to see some of them in the future, as some have already talked of plans to come up north and visit us in our crazy climate! I'm hoping to convince some of my warm weather friends to come and visit for Icebox Days. By clicking this link, you can see a schedule proving just how crazy we really are up here. The dates listed are from this past season, but the future dates will be similar, so I hope to be able to do something for it and on my birthday even!

And now I am on the job train. This past Friday, I secured myself not one but two jobs in the matter of two hours. Not bad for a day's interviews. I've just got to work out all the kinks with scheduling since I wasn't exactly expecting to get one job this soon, let alone two at a time. That will all be taken care of this week, and I'm excited to be able to get my finances back in order.

So for now I settle into my new life. I have gotten all of my belongings settled and feel at home now. I live with someone I love very much, I have inherited a dog, and get to see my family on a regular basis. Even though things seemed difficult before, everything really does happen for a reason and I feel that I have no need to worry. Will something in my career come up in the future? Of course it will. Will I be happy along the way? Of course, because I choose to be. I will continue to live by seeing the good things that are coming out of all situations, and to have no regrets. I feel like a lucky girl.

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