Goodbye EMI

Just two days left of work. The company threw me a really nice going away event last night. Full of laughs, embarrassing toasts and plenty of wine. It's hard to believe I have been there for six years, and in some ways it is hard to imagine not ever going back. My work has defined me for so long. In many ways EMI was the only way I defined myself. Now as I head toward another career that in many ways will be just as encompassing it feels weird. I had come to embrace this idea of being an urban professional. Now I am something different, still urban, and still a professional, but now also a teacher.

It's time to go, it feels like the right time, but I will miss the people, the clients, the work, the office and even the bad days. I have grown a lot and I think the company has played a role in helping me to become the person I am today - for better or for worse.

So goodbye EMI. It's been real, and its been fun...and now its time to move on to the next thing!

A real barbecue

Thank you to my good friend Jen who hosted a rockin' "real" barbecue yesterday at her awesome home. There is no better way to kick off summer then good friends, good hot dogs and all the trimmings. It was great to see people before I head out.

One of the hardest parts of leaving is all the cool people I am leaving behind. I know friendships transcend distance but distance still changes them. So many thanks to Jen for hosting...it was great to chill out in your backyard, watch the kids kill the pinata and enjoy the easy conversation that can only occur between friends.

I ended the day with a great sushi dinner with my dear friend Chuck...great food, great company and a great Lakers playoff game on the TV. I am trying to absorb (word chosen since I couldn't figure out how to spell soke?sook? whatever) as many good moments and create as many good memories as I can. Even though there are many things I am eager to leave behind in Boston, there is much I want to take with me.

Leaving on a jet plane

Or in a Penske truck. Same difference.

I leave for New Orleans on May 31st. My little brother and I are going to road trip it down there. Thinking of going coastal and staying on 95 as much as possible. I have yet to secure an apartment but have a few good leads and I am trusting in the universe that all will be well. I'll have a little less then a week to get settled in and hang out before I start training on June 9th.

I have to remember with this whole blog thing that anyone who chooses to read it can not also read my thoughts so I will take just a moment to back-up.

I am moving to New Orleans to become a high school teacher. The program I am working with will provide me training and job finding assistance over the summer and then starting in August/September I will be a real official teacher! Why New Orleans you may ask? Aren't you a pretentious east coast snob who gets mad when people don't walk fast enough? The answer to that is yes, I am. But I'm not very happy about it. Hence why New Orleans. I am looking for a change of pace, a change of life-style and the opportunity to positively impact a community that has gone through some bad times - and honestly Beacon Hill just wasn't qualifying as struggling just because of the rat problem.

I am excited to meet new people, try a new career and live in a new city. But I am also sad to leave behind friends and family I love, a job that was custom made for me and the city I have called home for 13 years.

I started this blog awhile ago not sure what to do with it...something I think is apparent in my early posts...but I am going to make an effort to use this blog to document my experiences in New Orleans, and my attempted transition from an uptight, pretentious north east professional into a laid-back, less stressed southern teacher. We'll see how it goes...

Its All Been Done...

Parents have been told. Notice has been given at work. Countdown to leaving Boston is on. I know, and I know more each day as I pack boxes and say good bye to friends and family that this part of my life is done. The life where I live as a upper class wife in Beacon Hill and drive a Mercedes and use pretension like a shield is over. It is real. It is really happening and almost everybody knows. Like the song I fell in love with when I first heard it in Pump Up The Volume (please watch if you have not as of yet) "everybody knows the boat is sinking, everybody knows the captain lied."

Once I know where I will be I will make this blog live by connecting it to something. I don't know if people will read it or not but it will be my humble attempt to stay in touch - as one sided as it is - to everyone I am leaving behind.

Turning 30

I turn 30 next week. I hadn't thought much about it, expect that people keep asking me if I am OK with it. It seems to me that I don't have much option but to be OK with it. I can't go back and re-do my twenties, even though some days I think I would like to. And I can't jump ahead and be turning 33, a birthday when no one asks you if you are "OK with it", skipping the next 3 years, even though some days I think I would like to.

So am I OK with it? I honestly don't know. I guess it kind of depends on how everything shakes out. Maybe it is better to ask me how I felt about turning 30 when I am about to turn 31.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part...

I was saying goodbye to my 3 1/2 year old niece on Sunday and when I told her I would see her three weeks she said: "Aunty that is too long."

I had forgotten how our perception of time changes. When we are young we are always in a rush to get to the next thing, or at least I was, and then as I got older, I tried to focus more on where I was right now, even as time pushed me forward into the unknown. Now as I face down turning 30, all the while waiting to hear about where I will be moving on June 1st, I feel like a kid again. Like time won't move fast enough, that having to wait two whole weeks to hear something feels like an eternity. And yet June 1st represents such an ending, such a change that I am also trying to hold onto time. Capture each walk home, each glimpse of the city, each night out with friends, each moment dancing with my niece, each moment laughing with my husband and hold onto it.

By the time I see her again I will have to tell her I am leaving. Tell her it will be awhile until she sees me again. I will promise to write her letters and send her presents and only love her more each day. But it won't be the same ever again, and even at 3 1/2 she will know that. And it breaks my heart all over again.

Fun in the Suburbs

Took a trip to West Bridgewater last night. Even the people there from other suburbs called it "the stix". A friend of mine's brother plays in a great cover band called Road Soda and they played at the Charlie Horse. We had a great time, good music, good friends. It had been a while since I had been a live show and I forgot how much fun they can be.

It was a treat to get out of the city and try to put everything behind me, even if it was just for a night. I havn't told people I am leaving yet, so as everyone talks about plans for the summer and stuff that is coming up it all feels very phoney. It sometimes feels like a lot of work to be around people.