So long...

It has been so long since I've written. Not because I haven't wanted to, but because of several things.

In my last post I begged and looked forward to new responsibilities and more to do. Well, now I've got it. I am running a department that is making the most money (in premium) while operating with the less amount of dollars. Interesting.

But, relate that to life.

When you have the most assets (time, space, money) you usually use the least of those assets to achieve the goal. (Family time, education, R&R).

Well, now that I am using the least amount of those assets at work, I find I am using the most of those assets in my personal life. I am suddenly taking weekend get-a-ways, making "play dates" with my dad and his person, flying home for "the big moments."

Limited sometimes equals excess.

So, I sit here in the warm desert in May thinking of the future. I am no longer tied to Seattle (thankfully) although I will always be tied there. Memories are sometimes the strongest pieces of twine tying you somewhere.

I am in the midst of baseball. Some days on top, sometimes falling short in the 9th.

I continue to learn every minute of every day. Learn how to speak, act, counsel, and pretend. Because after all, isn't that all that management is? Pretending?

Life is good now.

I feel happier than I have in a very long time.

I have my family (including my dad).

I have my friends (friends from the past as well as people I can trust from work. Yes, I said trust.)

I have money. I never knew how much this would change my outlook until now.

I have confidence. Falling down doesn't mean failing.

Cheers to what's next. WHOO!

New Year...

I have wanted to write my normal "Toast to the New Year" column since before the big day, but haven't been able to get it done. Not because of time restraints or laziness (although time has been more valuable than land these days.) I haven't written it because I'm not sure about it yet.

This has been one of the hardest years of my short little life. I made several large steps this year...getting a "real" job. Buying a house. Being scared of impending surgery. Quitting my first "real" job for a new, bigger, better job. Feeling like I lost my dad, more than once. Moving across the country alone. And most of all...living through it.

Making it work.

I haven't had this much hurt in my life before, and don't look forward to it continuing much longer.

Through all of these "trials" I have found a few things to be true.

1. I will make it.
2. I will continue to be strong no matter what comes my way.
3. I can trust myself.
4. I can let other people help me.
5. I can celebrate the good things even if other things aren't that great.
6. I am good at what I do.
7. I will continue to grow as a person and that growth will expand into all parts of my life.
8. I am worth it.
9. I will continue learning, falling down, and getting up.
10. I will make it.

I have said several times to close friends that I have not been proud of all I have done since moving. I have had to grow up a lot and in that growth I have made decisions, some with outcomes I have had to struggle through.

I will make it.

I have learned a lot about "the real working world" since I've been in Seattle. This has taught me about relationships, and how to make them work in the office and in the bar. They have to be different. Especially when so many people are out to get you. Work is just that. Work. When you let that simple idea slip, you become the weak one. The one the real worker bees despise. That I will never be.

I will succeed.

Now, as the first NFL season I have worked full-time ends, I look forward to the next step.

I'll be moving to L.A. soon. I'll be working in a stadium that most honor as one of the greatest places in baseball. Dodger Stadium. (Not to mention the property that makes the most money for my company annually.)

I'll be leaving what is now my uncomfortable comfort zone for half a year to make a new "comfort" zone. Only this time I know more. I know who to be the first day through day 15. I will continue to make mistakes and learn along the way, but I won't do it the same as I did it in Seattle.

I will excel.

Next January when I write I hope to be in a different place.

I hope to be near the Superbowl with the Seahawks. I hope to be at a higher level in my career (regarding responsibility, knowledge, and of course, monetarily.) I hope to be looking forward to my next move. Somewhere different. Exciting. Challenging still.

I hope to be around my family. I hope to have more visits and not miss the "big stuff." I hope to gain a balance between work and play. I hope to have a dad again.

I look forward with anticipation while not looking back once. I won't forget the lessons I've learned. I choose to move forward. Learn more. Hunger for more. Achieve more.

I will make it.

Two days till 24...

The "everything happens for a reason" theory is intriguing yet perplexing at times.

I was meant to come to Seattle, for a reason yet to be determined...maybe.

I have greatly increased my level of independence--by necessity--as well as confidence, possibly due to the first.

However, it's difficult not to feel alone while being independent.

I have never questioned who I'd be with on my birthday. Sure there have been some invites that weren't counted on, but I have always known there would be a "core" group there to celebrate.

Those who've never missed it.

Now--while experiencing my independence, I find myself faced with the possibility of being alone on my birthday. An experience I've never had-and haven't ever wanted.

I find myself trying to force relationships. Seeking out a guy at the bar.

I know this would do no good in my life, for my future, or even for Thursday, but it's a knee jerk reaction for "how to find a guy in two days."

It's clear that I will be alone Thursday. No matter who shows, loneliness will be the first to arrive and the last to leave.

The most unwelcome guest of all.

While I'll try hard not to focus on her-or entertain her-she'll be there.

In the empty cab ride home, the silent phone. She'll be a faithful uninvited guest.

Yet for a reason.

My Mary Tyler Moore Moment

It happened so suddenly, I almost missed it.

Standing under the "big buildings" with the cool night air nipping at my face, it hit me.

This is the dream.

Walking downtown with co-workers. All dressed in suites. Heading somewhere.

It was as moment I had wanted for a long time. A feeling that showed me I made it. An experience I had always wanted.

This experience was so powerful I stopped--at the corner--with my co-workers--and said, "If I had a hat, I'd throw it in the air right now."

They laughed, but I knew it was true.

Elizabeth Jo Weese turned Mary Tyler Moore.

Right there in Seattle, WA.

Coffee and columns 9-10-06

Writing. Something that seems so ordinary. An everyday act in life, business, education.

It's habitual and necessary.

To me, it breeds life.

Writing gives me a window to the world. A soap box to preach from. A place to unwind.

Writing helps me disconnect while remaining very connected to the world. There is great pain in some of my writing. Hurt feelings, broken spirit.

All of that seems to be healed by paper and pen.

I read back to a story I penned and smiled.

I captured with red ink a pure moment of happiness. A moment in time that included no one but myself. A moment I owe to myself.

A moment that will never be forgotten.

Now that it's written.

Antics

I was the first in the family to move west--but not the last.

My dad, very nonchalantly told me today he was moving to California in a week.

Not to further his career or to see the world, but because she's there.

Jolene.

the woman my father cheated with.

Jolene.

The woman my father is moving across the country for.

My dad hasn't contacted me in a month--since I moved. By myself. Across the country. And now, by coincidence, I find out he's moving too.

Not just to be with this person, but to be with her and her child.

A daughter.

That's what hurts.

Introduction to my book...

On a cooler than average late July day in the Midwest, I boarded a plane--off to start a new life.

Amid tears, a vodka induced blur, and a jumpy stomach, I looked back, once, through the glass separating security wall, took a deep breath, and walked on.

That was over a month ago. A month away from home. A month from everything I've ever known. A month into the beginning of my life. The life where everything is up to me.

So here I sit. On an island. Warm water air blowing on my skin. The smell of sun on my body.

Happy.

Walking around the island today I felt like I was home.

A new home--but one I could make mine.

The sign I bought says, "Live a good life. And in the end, it's not the years in a life, it's the life in the years."

Maybe that's why I'm here. I have been searching for the life for so long and now, it's my responsibility to make that life happen.

So next time I'm in an airport, ready to move on, I won't look back.

Not once.

airplane thoughts

It's hard to remember what it feels like to put a hand on his shoulder lovingly. Knowing that all you want to do is touch someone. Looking over and knowing he'll be there looking back at you.

Granted, it's not always butteflies and cotton candy, but sometimes, it's nice to remember these times. It's just sad that the mind and the senses don't always connect. I can remember the touches, but the feeling of them escapes me. The gentle firmness at the small of my back as we drift through a crowded room. The memory and thought recognition are still there. The feeling is gone.

And past that...kissing. I've forgotten the feeling of a kiss. Not necessarily a deep passionate kiss, but the brief encounters that we take for granted. The kisses the I always thought would last forever. The kisses you're not self-conscious about. Where your breath or teeth or lips don't matter. You just kiss because you feel like it.

For a long time I didn't want any of that. No time. No desire. But now. Now that I'm here, at a new beginning in life, a chance to be whoever I want to be, free of all past actions, mistakes, judgments and faults, I want to try again. I want to have that moment when some stranger floats into my life and leaves that mark.

I yearn to be lost in a kiss again, on the verge of taking it for granted, but pulling back just in time to cherish and remember the feeling. Maybe it takes having time away from the feelings to truly appreciate them again.

And just when I think he's out there, sitting at the coffee shop I haven't found yet, my brain and my heart say in harmony, "But what if you already left him in the past?"

Much to my dismay, I have to acknowledge those thoughts and fears. I have to be authentic and honest with myself that those thoughts are valid. However, acknowledgement and acceptance of defeat each live on different coasts. And right now, I'm not prepared to make a commitment to either side. I think I'll hang out in mid-air, no knowledge of which state I'm currently in. And I'll see what happens when I land.

It stops...

It's so interesting to me that just when we get what we want, something new pops up in the middle of the road just to mess with the new wax job on the car.

I got out of Panera, just in time I think. Just like those scary invader aliens on Sci-Fi movies who come to Earth just to suck it dry of all goodness and just in time before the Earth dies, they move on. With Panera, I stuck with it (whether I wanted to or not) just long enough to learn a ton of operational information to help me immensely when Rob called and got me to Seattle.

Now that I'm here, and feel good about what I'm doing, someone comes in to test me. Not just my belief in my work abilities or skills, but my belief in myself and whether or not I'm worth what responsibilities I have.

It is interesting how things in life loop around. There were times in my "youth" when a man told me what I thought about myself, my life, and everything else around me. Then, I woke up, got smart, and moved away. Now that I have tested (to some extent) how smart and capable I am by moving across the country, there's a new man, who I don't even know or care about, who is trying to "put me down" because as a woman, I have no greater good to add to human kind.

This is obviously a huge issue with me, that I have (unfortunately) let bug me for way too long. (Granted I've only been in Seattle for two weeks, but for a week of it, this has been happening.)

So, I've decided. Let him think he's ruling the world. Then, do it my way, when the right people are looking, and run right over him, the right way. The way I know I can do. The way I will succeed.

There are men in the world like this person for a reason, because women like me who are smart enough, strong enough and capable enough, let them continue. That stops with me.

Double...

I was driving home just now, worrying about several different things in my life, when suddenly, something told me to look up. Over my apartment, stretched between the clouds, sat a double rainbow.

I knew at that time that everything was going to be okay, and there's got to be some luck headed my way.

I'm ready for it, too.

A better life...

There's an oldie running through my head tonight...

"We got to get out of this place. If it's the last thing we ever do. We gotta get outta this place. Girl there's a better life for me and you."

Well, minus the romantic innuendo, that's exactly what I'm feeling right now.

Maybe I'm just tired, exhausted, or frustrated, but even more than in the past while at this job, I am more willing and ready to quit, be fired, or just walk out than ever before.

I am not a quitter. And definitely not the kind of person to ever be fired. But this job is literally killing me I think.

It's not about money, benefits, or title anymore. It's about quality of life.

I feel like I never leave that restaurant. And when I do, they call me with questions, problems, or just because. What did I do to deserve that? :)

I've got to catch the eye of an employer who will see my potential, my desire to achieve and make a difference, and then get them to hire me. Once I'm hired, I'll set boundaries. And if it's the right job, I won't have to.

Until this happens, the song will continue to play. And until the circus music makes me run myself through the bread slicer, I guess I'll continue slinging bagels.

Until the phone rings with the right offer.

Woman vs. Machine

I mowed MY grass for the first time today.

Enter machine.

I borrowed my brother's lawn mower for the day and set out to beautify MY lawn. Dressed to kill in short shorts, bikini top and a cute tank, I set out to execute a task I have accomplished numerous times in my life.

I pushed the lawn mower into the yard, grasped the handle, and started pulling. Once, twice, nothing else. Okay, I can do this.

Pull again.

Once, barely twice, nothing again the third time.

Okay, now I'm starting to get frustrated.

After using a few choice words against the lawn mower, and (of course I would never tell my brother this part...) kicking the stupid thing, I decided to be bigger than the machine.

I sat down, eye to gas tank with the lawn mower. I studied it. Thought about what makes it tick. Gas? Check. Oil? Check. Did I prime it? Yes.

Out of the blue a thought popped into my head. Does it have to be on level ground to start? Bing! The light bulb went on. I jumped up, moved the mower to level ground...first pull, ba-bing! VRROOMMMMM!!!!

SUCCESS!!!!

I struggled two other times with the mower throughout the afternoon, and when I cut the final square of lawn, I released the handlebar, and shouted for no one to hear but me, "And THAT'S how you mow grass!"

After that, I went and bought an electric weed eater with a push button start.

I win.

writing to live

Writing is supposed to be my voice. My refuge in the storms of life. Writing has always helped me through the pain and unknowing that comes with life and change.

If this is so, why is it that during this horribly confusing and depressing time in my life, I can't seem to write to get through it?

Are there some things even our refuge can't combat?

This is notably the worst time in life I have experienced thus far. Family torn apart, followed by lies, sickness, job problems, death, big debt, even bigger mistakes, then the threat of major surgery. Most people would say, experiencing all of that in a five year span is normal.

What about 9 months?

I have had just about every big life experience in the last 9 months as possible.

I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm just looking for a way out.

A healthy way. I've almost exhausted all of those options too.

So, back to the basics. Writing. Even if it's not about me, and my life, writing.

Being outdoors. Just sitting in nature.

Fresh air.

Sleep has been coming easier lately, with the help of modern science and medicine.

Unfortunately, I am secluding myself from people. I don't want to go out with friends, not just because I can't afford it, but because I don't want to be around people. I don't answer the phone, I don't respond to e-mail. I want to disappear from the radar for a bit.

Is that wrong?

I need to reconnect with myself before I face the world again.

The game is too exhausting.

3 or 23?

Why is it when I want to grow up so badly, and am trying so hard to do things by myself, that I feel so abandoned?

From my knowledgeable, detached self, I see that I am being very selfish right now. I see myself as very self centered, I'm the only one who matters and who should be considered, and that's how it is. The thinking side of me wants to slap myself and say, "look lady...the world doesn't revolve around you."

While this entire time, my heart-felt side is crying, saying, "everyone has left me. I'm all alone, and no one cares anymore."

I wonder if my grace period to be sad is over and everyone's tired of hearing about my family and work and stuff. Do I feel guilty about my feelings?

I know in my head it's okay for me to hurt and work through the pain. But I also wonder if I am asking too much from people to not accommodate..but accommodate to me and my moods and wants and needs.

Am I taking advantage of the situations that have been presented to me in the last 9 months? I haven't really ever had an "excuse" to be sad and concerned...so am I dwelling on this one?

Or is everyone else just more adjusted, or more detached than I am?

In my head I know I'm doing the healthy and right thing...but sometimes I feel guilty. Like I'm asking for too much sacrifice from others and none from myself.

And then I remember the sacrificing of my dreams that I have already made.

I have given up my dreams of my family and the future that holds. I have sacrificed peaceful and relaxing holidays for hectic, drive here, drive there holidays for the rest of my life.

For what?

Tears...

Totally alone in the world.

That's how I felt about an hour ago. I called my dad a week ago because I was excited about buying a house, and since he does home inspections for people, I thought he might want to be there when my future home was being inspected.

No response.

After 10 days I decided to call him again.

No response.

He then called me back a few minutes later blaming the cell phone and charging the phone, and whatever of wherever he was.

I didn't judge.

Just listened.

I first asked, "is everything okay?" because if he were dead in a ditch somewhere (obviously wouldn't be answering the phone then...) I wouldn't be sticking my perfectly pedicured foot in my mouth.

"Everything's fine."

"Okay, then," I start out... and it all goes down there from there. Crying. From me, not dad. "Why haven't you called me back? I called you with a very important piece of news and an invitation last week and haven't heard from you. Don't use this 'business trip' as an excuse either because I work 12+ hours a day and have found the time to call twice." Okay...so maybe not that strong of words, but damn close.

No emotion, no sorrow, no apology in the voice. "I'll try to do better by you."

"You've said that before, and it's unacceptable now."

The conversation went downhill from there. Him blaming me, saying the phone works both ways and that I wasn't trying. He's busy, and shouldn't have to be there all the time for me. He's on a business trip after all you know.

Then, he told me I was tired, should "clean myself up" and go to bed.

I said goodnight and hung up then.

Then I called my brother, because I needed someone. And for once, wished I was married, or dating someone, so that I could talk to someone and have them hold me. Unfortunately, none of those options were available, and my brother's in Chicago, so I just had the phone with him.

One hour of crying to him, and him trying to calm me down later, he told me, person number 8,216, that this was not my fault and there was nothing I could do about it.

One new piece of evidence.

My brother's conclusion:

"He'll (dad) either wake up and realize everything that's gone wrong and fight like hell to get it back, or, he'll sever all communication with us and never repair it. You have to be prepared for either circumstance."

Shit.

That sucks. But I guess it's true.

Now that I've been crying for literally hours straight, have a pounding headache and eyes that are swollen to three times their size, AND have to be at work at 5 a.m. I think I'll leave it there.

I'm so tired of this.

You got it!

Strength comes in strangest forms, and simplest ways sometimes.

Life seems to be testing me with all of the hard stuff at once. Job, money, moving, divorce, friends, guys, death, sadness.

You know what? I can handle it.

I will not be the exception, I will be the rule. Trust me.

life

Wow...it's really been over a month since I wrote anything here. That doesn't mean I haven't written, wanted to write, or had the need to write. It means I let life get in the way.

I have come to realize in the recent past that just when you think things are quieting down in life, something big happens.

You lose $400, your parent's divorce is in the newspaper for the world to see, you break someone's heart, you lose a house, a friend dies.

My shrink said today that if I were to take a standardized stress test right now, my numbers would be astronomical. Maybe that's why I've just kind of shut down.

I hope all of my craziness calms down soon. I honestly don't think I can take much more.

Just when I see a light, it starts to rain.

A watched phone never rings...

Why is it that when you don't want to talk to anyone, your phone never stops ringing, and you have 3 million e-mails every day?

And when you really just want to talk to someone, the phone is practically non-existent?

No matter what the cause of this phenomenon, it exists. I'm sure it has something to do with the Sun, moon, Venus and Mars lining up or playing catch with the stars, but for some reason, it always seems to happen.

I try really hard not to keep looking at my phone...but I keep checking it every five minutes to make sure I didn't miss anything.

The same with e-mail. I remember in college I'd get hundreds of e-mails a day...and now...I might get like 5.

I think it all has to do with the need to be needed.

There are some things within myself and my personality that I can't change, and this is one of them.

I think I am always going to have the need to be needed by anyone and everyone. I don't care who calls or e-mails me, as long as someone does...

Until then...I'll keep watching...

Re-thinking what I always thought I knew...

I've started thinking about marriage lately. Not just because of my parents impending divorce, or my brothers recent marriage. I've started thinking about marriage for me.

And how for the first time in my life, I'm not sure if it's for me.

Let's put on my brother's analytical, black and white issue, hat.

Over half of all marriages fail. Okay, for a perfectionist...this is not comforting.

Second point: Will I ever find someone who makes me happy enough to settle for all of the stuff he does that doesn't make me happy? I've realized in the last six months that no one is perfect and the perfect relationship doesn't exist. With that rational knowledge, I immediately jump to the conclusion that if this is true, why should I settle for less than perfection?

I've been thinking a lot in the last few months about whether or not I need a man to complete any part of my life.

~I am fully capable of having a successful career without a man in my life.

~I can have, care for, and raise a child or children by myself if I chose to do that. Although I know it would be much easier and cleaner on paper if I had a man, it is not necessary.

~I can live by myself, in a house, apartment, shed, or truck if I wanted to. I've actually learned to become quite handy around my different apartments and dorm rooms in the last five years. I'm sure more of that will come in the future.

With all of these examples of how I could do it on my own if I wanted to, I continue to question myself. "Do I really want to live that way? Do I really want to cut the possibility of marriage completely out of my life?"

Well, no. But I also don't want the wedding march running through my head on each and every date anymore. I'm tired of the ticking maternal clock bullshit. If it starts ringing one day, I'll deal with it. Until then, I need to enjoy life, because if I do make the choice to start a family, with or without the man, I will be tied to that family indefinitely.

I.E. no travel. No picking up and flying to Boston for the weekend. No shopping uncontrollably. No fancy dinners with expensive wine and food.

I'm not being pessimistic. I'm not being sad or depressed.

I'm being real.

For the first time in my life, I think I'm actually leveling with myself about what I want and need. Really want and need.

In the meantime, I plan to live. Let life happen. Keep living for myself, and not getting caught up in "what things are."

Labels are overrated.

And I have my own damn diamonds.

To settle...or not to settle...

So this is what it feels like to settle...

I knew a long time ago that if I felt like I was settling in a relationship, I would simply end the relationship. Cutting all ties would in the end, be more beneficial to me than keeping them around for relationship sake.

Well, I think I did that house cleaning around Christmastime...whether or not I knew it at the time.

Now, I feel the same cleaning bug coming on with my work.

I "chose" Panera, and food service as a whole, because it was the Road more Traveled By...the easy way out. I'm good at it. It's like taking a 100 level class my whole life. No really new challenges. Nothing to really challenge me.

Well, three weeks into that, and I'm spent.

I feel every day as if I have to pry myself out of bed (not because I'm tired, although I am...) and drag myself to work. As I approach Independence, late of course, I get this sense of dread in my body.

I hate this place.

Normally, I would try and make the best of any situation, but this one is too much for me.

This is what drove me to do some internal searching as to what I should really be doing with my life. The kinds of questions I asked myself about four years ago...but must have lost the answer key to.

Number one realization: I need and desire a sense of purpose larger than myself.

Wow...now it seems so clear!

I need to feel needed when I go to work, and not just because I want to keep my job. I want to know that each day when I go to work, I am making a difference.

This was the first huge step in my NEW career search.

Back to square one, when I started college, and classes, and internships. I wanted to not only help people, but leave the place I was better than I found it. (Thanks Girl Scouts!!)

So, that is my new quest.

I know that by using the talents I've been given...wiritng, communications, people skills, etc., I can make a difference in the world, or at least my immediate world.

That is my new goal.

Find the job that will help me feel more connected with the world I live in, and that I have made some sort of difference in it.

What a liberal attitude from such a conservative...I know.