Cafe Hitch-hike

2004-12-01

Hitting the road again

I was trying not to think too much of the interview and their decision. John quit his job with InfoConglomo, so I wanted to at least be there for him. Thanksgiving was soon, and I was to cook a small dinner for John, Jimbo (his friend), and I. And, my Uncles Joe and Rich were coming to town to visit. I had other things to think of.

I had the day off last Tuesday, and John ruefully asked, "can I come over?" Gads, he's got too much time on his hands on some days and loiters at my house when I'm home. I really wanted to be alone to mentally and physically prepare myself for the week ahead, but I said, "ah, come over." He was there when I got the phone call.

"Miss Hitch-hike, this is the Dean Poobah, and I wanted to let you know the search committee has made their decision. They would like to offer you the job with us."

(**Heart stops**) I couldn't believe it! I said yes, and we talked about salary and paperwork to be filled.

Well, John was right there and that put a damper on things. John, oh yeah, him. My boyfriend. The boyfriend with a zillion ties to Metro Detroit. The Irish Catholic who loves cold, wet places like Michigan. The guy who has his family, daughter, and a zillion friends here. The guy who had been a good friend to me since the day we met, with his unfaltering loyalty and devotion; the guy who loves me the same way I've seen him love everyone else around him.

Of course, I cried after the phone call. I cried because I couldn't believe it was true, and I cried because of John.

"You know I have to take this," I said. "The job search has just been killing me!"

I was in denial. It felt too easy at that time. The interview wasn't difficult. The people were nice, the whole evening and day I spent with them was dreamy. And, I got the job. It just seemed too easy to me.

I went to my 12-step program last week. Rich said I was probably shocked at the acceptance; it's not everyday where most people get a sense of acceptance or one that major. He added I've probably been so used to hearing and seeing rejection letters that anything different from a potential employer sounds foreign to me.

Of course, later in the week, I thought of the toil in this job search. I recalled crying to countless people over the difficulties and frustrations of the job search. I thought of the interviews where my brain and being were skewered for everyone to examine. This wasn't easy. Hell no! This was tough! This was tough, and I finally got to where I wanted to be! I guess it just so happened that this particular interviewing process went smoothly rather than straining, and I end up getting the job... Of course there was disbelief!

Now, I am in the process of getting the background check completed. I'm going to try to negotiate moving costs or adjustments to my salary to cover moving.

I feel funny; these preparations require a piece of my attention, while the day-by-day things do as well. There's a lot of stuff that I have to do in these next 4 weeks, and then even more when I'm in the library, teaching stuff to students, with my head spinning from the drastic change in climate and all the stuff going on.

Uh-huh, alright... I've done plenty of this in the past. Moving, going place-to-place. Changing jobs. I can do this, I've done this well. I may feel like a chicken with my head cut off in these situations, but lately I've been allowing myself to make mistakes, not expecting what I do to be flawless and super-perfect the first time. There were many time, in that beheaded-feeling state, where people later told me they never would have guessed I felt that way. Ooh, okay. So I guess that mean I have some composure.

If any of you have done major moves, let me know what you did to get from place-to-place. All I've done is rent U-Hauls and move it all myself (with assistance usually of one guy).

So that's it, everybody. I've got the job! It's off to a new land, climate, and place. It's the first full-time position I've held! This is cool, so cool!

Once again, here I go, hitting the road again like a hitch-hiker. Yeah, I guess it's okay to be a little scared of what's ahead... but at least I've been able to have some fun and meet interesting people along the way. I doubt that will be much different this time.

downwind | upstream