I came back "home" to Olympia from "home" in Minnesota feeling refreshed by all of my good time with special people... but also feeling like I was probably nearing the end of my Washington stay if I couldn't find a worthwhile job before December (figuring that giving myself 6 months was a pretty fair thing to do). I arrived in Olympia late on a Monday night and by Friday morning, I had been offered two jobs. The first: at Target doing sales work... the second (the one I've taken!): an AmeriCorps position for the next 10.5 months doing community outreach, volunteer coordination, recruitment, public speaking, and presentation preparation for the Olympia chapters of 4-H and the Master Gardeners/Master Composters ("Masters" from here on out) programs.
I had a wonderful interview with two great women, Cori and Emily, and was pretty thrilled to accept the job. Of course, I only accepted after tracking down both of my parents and telling them to either "talk me into it or talk me out of it".
(Might I mention: I'm incredibly lucky to have two parents who reassure, support, and 'talk me into it' instead of letting me miss out on an opportunity I'd regret walking away from)
So, instead of heading out at the end of my lease in December, I'm now looking at 10.5 months of community outreach, volunteer coordination, and honing my presentation skills.
I start today. In fact, I am going to bike the three miles out there starting in about ten minutes. I just HAD to write and tell you all not to worry about me anymore! I'm sure there will be the regular paperwork, data entry, and other un-fun stuff that comes with these sort of volunteer/intern sorts of positions, but I also feel that this is a great opportunity for me to get out into this community, be connected with a great group of people, and further my own skills in educating the public about great programs and neat ways to be more self-sustaining. Plus, it's only 10 and a half months (that half makes me giggle inside a little every time) before I can start considering heading back to the heartland again.
Also, you may have noticed that I said I was going to "bike the three miles out there in about ten minutes" (now we're looking at more like 6 minutes). This is my little segue into the fact that I'm hoping to become a bicycle commuter. As much as I love my Kelly-green, 1972 Sears & Roebuck, it has become impractical for all of the hills and bumps in the road. I fear those rubber tires, who are older than I am by 13 years, will finally give up and leave me stranded with a flat halfway between work and home one day. So, dear Kelly will be up for sale as soon as my new single-speed (yes, I will have the calves and thighs of a buffalo soon) arrives in town. I know that I will be cycling in the rain for the next several months... and I will probably grow weary of this fact... but I figure this will be a good excuse to get out and get some exercise during the most dreary months I will probably ever endure.
Before I head out to the 'first day of the rest of my (10.5 months of) life', I will also tell you that I managed to have a perfectly glorious "last day of summer" yesterday. The sun came out for the first full day in about a week and the rains gave me one day of respite that I can pull my mind back to whenever I am in need. I sat in a lovely park on a bench facing Mt. Ranier and watched the sun rise over Olympia and let it's rays soak into every pore they could find. I spoke on the phone with a dear friend from home for a bit. I watched sea birds stalking a school of GIANT sea-salmon that had taken a wrong turn the evening before and found themselves cut off from the Deschutes river they hoped to climb and, instead, were trapped in a tide pool off the sound. I looked down over the bridge as I walked into downtown and saw a "drift" of jellyfish, and later when I walked back up to my home, I looked down and saw three gray seals playing! I spent the day going back and forth between working on graphic designs for upcoming events, and drinking coffee while finishing up Kerouac's "On The Road" which I've finally decided it is OK to finish. It was a lovely, LOVELY day and I know that I'll have to return to it in my mind over the next several months of dark and dreary rain.
For now, though, it is time to get on my dear old bicycle and coax it up and down a few miles of road to my first day of work!
Wish me luck!
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