See my big girl shoes

As a general rule, I hate to presume that my personal life would be interesting to other people. I do not have great wisdom to impart. I wish. However, I enjoy reading about other people’s experiences in this crazy, mixed up world, so maybe you do too. So with insecurities on the table, I’ll get on with my blog already.

Have you ever been downtown in a major city in the morning while everyone is going to work? And you see all the young professionals, probably just graduated, walking to work, looking all cute? When I see these guys, I always think, “That’s what I want.” They could be going to jobs that they hate and be coming from crappy apartments that they share with people they don’t like because they can’t afford to live alone, but none of that matters because I can only see the glory of it all. I only see them waking up and making breakfast in the morning with a significant other, maybe reading the news; walking to a respectable little job, not a career, but a good starting point; doing something all day that sounds much more interesting when explained to friends than it really is to do all day; and then walking back home and making dinner and talking about our days or maybe catching a happy hour with friends.

And maybe this type of life is novel and exciting to me only because I haven’t done it yet. I have been a student since I was 5 years old (the last 21 years of my life for those of you wondering). This has been continuous except for summer breaks. And I am so grateful for my education, which I have single-handedly taken my time getting through. My boyfriend jokes sometimes that plenty of people take 9 years to graduate – they’re called doctors. Haha.

But here I am, in my final year of my master’s program, the end in sight. Part of me is thrilled to be finished with lectures and papers and ridiculous schedules, and part of me is terrified to face the real world without having my “student excuse.” It’s a good reason to have accomplished so little by age 26.

Luckily for me, I have a nice little transition year. I am taking classes, but I also have a field placement (internship) 3 days a week. I also work (for money) 2 days a week. But this field placement is the perfect thing to get me sort of ready for the real world with the security of still being in school.

And yesterday was my very first day. I had to drive instead of walk, which took away from that romantic image I have, but my parking garage is about 10 blocks away, so I could still pretend I was walking there. I was wearing a new outfit and feeling pretty good until I hit some serious traffic.

So by the time I parked, I had to practically run to get there on time, which would have been fine except that I was wearing new shoes (real cute ones). They were hurting my heels pretty bad, but I anticipated this and packed 2 bandaids. Then I noticed that the bottom of my pant leg felt wet, and when I looked to see what I stepped in, I saw that my heels were a bloody mess. No time now! I hobbled into the old, stately building and tried to find my way through the sea of identical cubicles.

I eventually found the right one, and everything was OK after that. I ducked into the bathroom and cleaned up my feet and legs. Of course, by the end of the day, I had to actually tape the bandaids to my heels and my feet were still messed up pretty bad.

But I learned about all the very important-sounding things I would be doing this year with the UMB Office of Community and Government Affairs – see how official that sounds? And I will have my own desk and email and everything!

I can barely believe that in a year from now, I will have my own little job, and maybe I can get up and eat breakfast, and walk to work, and then come home and have dinner, just like a real girl. I can’t wait!

And just a note to anyone who noticed that I haven’t blogged for about 2 months (thank you for noticing). Despite my best efforts to have a nice relaxing summer, I got so crazy busy with this job I took with the Fund for the Public Interest. And during the height of the craziness, I moved to a new apartment, which is pretty cool. You should come visit sometime. So I still need to finish 4 pages in my altered book, which I hope to do before school gets crazy busy, so I can post pictures of that on here too.

And then I don’t know what’s after that. Maybe I’ll lay off the crafts and just write blogs, which take less time. Anyway, thanks for reading!