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![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) macnbc asked me on Monday how my first day of work had gone. I answered him that I thought that this move and this job were the best things I had yet done with my adult life to date, and I stand by that today.
I have been happier for the last week than I have been in years, hands down. Yes, I have small frustrations and small conflicts and small battles, but... I have moved to somewhere that is in the throes of spring. Every day the buds on the trees get closer to leaves. The cherry blossoms have faded but the dogwood are still gorgeous, and the tulips and lilac and azalea are bright and beautiful against the grass -- GRASS! -- I see everywhere. My daily walk to and from the Metro is just so beautifully relaxing and calming... it's between 8 and 12 minutes, depending how relaxed I feel (it's also faster coming home, because to leave it's a straight uphill), and it's perhaps the most perfect piece of suburbia ever built. The houses are lovely, older brick homes where you know people have settled to raise their kids (and their dogs) and where they will stay to retire. The sun lights everything up in the morning and tints it all coral-rose in the evening.
In short, it is about the polar opposite of a 98% recent-immigrant neighborhood in a forgotten corner of Manhattan.
The apartment is really beautiful, and now that we've got things set up here I feel how really large it is. My PC is in the bedroom, which wasn't my first choice, but honestly the bedroom is huge -- just inconveniently arranged so that I can't really keep my old bookcase etc. in here with me. (Right now, I wish I'd kept the shelf that I gave to Dan years ago when we left Park Slope and split up. It would be perfect right here. Maybe on the next IKEA trip -- in May, after I have my car -- I'll buy another of the same one.)
After we get a couch next weekend (which will probably be delivered during next week) and I have the last few boxes out, I'll take some pictures and share them. The bedroom is in the corner of the building, with windows facing northwest and southwest, and so when I get home between 6:30 and 6:45 in the evening it's just all lit up a brilliant gold. And in the evenings, with the windows open, yes, it's moderately noisy in here -- we're right on the main road around here and can see I-66 from our windows -- but in the morning when I wake up I hear robins and sparrows and a mockingbird and Matt's breathing.
I know that in the months to come, the quirks will become annoyances and the walk may seem like a burden instead of a pleasure (particularly as the seasons change; this is the most perfect week of spring in the year and the wretched humidity of summer will no doubt change my tune). And I know that in time, the delight of working somewhere new will change and some personalities and organizational traits will start to grate on me. But right now... life isn't just good, it's phenomenal. I don't think Matt and I could have come up with a better compromise for both our needs and desires than this. The apartment is large and sunny and has hardwood floors and a dishwasher and air conditioning and is affordable (with both incomes put together) and the management is as friendly and accessible as you can possibly imagine, and the neighbors are mostly friendly and mostly considerate and the ones who have kids have adorable well-behaved ones. The area is dense enough to make me feel like I haven't moved to the ends of the earth, and suburban enough to make him feel like he hasn't moved to the city. (In fact, this area reminds me very strongly of the Belmont / Newton / Arlington / Lexington area of Massachusetts, which is where I grew up and which is how I set the standard for "home.")
The new job is also fantastic. I seem to be working with amazing people for an absolutely phenomenal company that's really trying to do great things. I have support and resources; I have just enough direction to do what I need to do but not so much that my freedom or creativity are micromanaged. I am working with people who already seem to respect me and trust my input. I am also working at a much, much higher level than I had at first realized: my boss's boss reports directly to the CEO. Discretion has suddenly become one of my most valuable skills and assets (which I'm sure explains part of why the company wants me to be a very happy employee). In short, there are a lot of things about my company and job you are not going to read in this space. ;)
I was absolutely, 100% and unreservedly right to take this job and take these steps. Even if my team falls apart and I end up looking for other work. Even if Matt and I fall apart and I end up looking for other housing. And even though I am the highest-possible risk group for skin cancer and have an unfortunate allergy to the active ingredient in 99% of all suscreens. (Thinking of Virginia summers as compared to New England or even New York ones.) Matt, who has a bias, and my parents, who don't, have all said that they felt this move was the right thing at the right time for me. They were all very, very right.
Now I am going to enjoy going to a kitchen that no roommate has made a mess of, to make a dinner that cost about 30% less than I would have needed to spend two weeks ago. I have other observations (in a week living here, every single time I am going through a doorway near a male over age 10, said male holds the door open for me, even if it means running ahead of me first; no-one has tried to run me over yet; the Metro simply doesn't occur to commuters here unless it will save a significant amount of time, despite the fact that, with gas averaging $3.50 a gallon and rising, and the Beltway being what it is, the Metro will at the very least save a significant amount of money and be much less stressful for a commute length that's only -/+ 5 minutes of the driving one) but mostly they can wait. The windows are open, the Sox are on TV (Yankees suck! And I mean that with all due love and affection to my New York friends) and I am going to enjoy my evening thoroughly. Especially the part where my love comes home to me at night.
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