Be at Peace

This has been a very centering weekend for me. daN and i went up to Maine where we visisted Kate and Allin. It was wonderful. First of all, it was great to see them. I would hazard to say we haven't seen the two of them together since sometime around Thanksgiving. We got to see their wonderful house! And stay in it in one of their TWO guests rooms! It was very cool. We were busy but weren't too crazy about it. We ate at China Coast with the Bogs, we walked the breakwater, we went out to Union where daN got a haircut next door while the rest of us visited with me Mum and Yukon, Mum and Rick's wolf. (He's 92% and very wonderful.) We had a fantastically fun time. Mum was in her prime, and she was just hillarious. She talks about things in the funniest way, and has a real Mainer way of summing up a story. Like talking about being on a motor boat with the floatation devices trailing behind her, practically acting as parachutes because the boat's going so fast that she looks like she just got a facelift! She summed it all up by saying, "It was a terrible uncomfortable ride." Kate and Allin liked her a lot, i think.

We also went to the Second Read and got some coffee and cookies and sat down. I didn't get to browse around for books, but there wasn't time for that AND for walking the breakwater, and i REALLY wanted to walk the breakwater. We retired to bed later last night after daN and i took a long walk around residential Rockland with all the pretty old houses. It was really nice.
This morning, i skipped out to visit my Nana who lives not too far off from Kate and Allin now! I was lucky to find the house, because Mum gave me the wrong road name, but i had an idea. It was also a bit further of a walk than i had planned for, so the visit was a bit shorter, but Nana drove me home. She also LOVED the book i got for her, and i was so glad! I got her a copy of Joyce Tennyson's photography book called "Intimacy," which is a book of the most gorgeous color photos of flowers i have ever seen. Wow. It really is true to its name. The author shared a booksigning with Matt at Sherman's over Thanksgiving, and that's how i found out about her. I didn't have much money at the time, but i thought of Nana immediately when i saw that book, because she paints watercolors primarily of flowers, and i know she has an appreciation for photography as well. She loved it, and she also loved that i stopped to say hello.
It was a good weekend. The busride was also nice. I sat on the bus and stared out the window at the beautiful trees and lakes and rivers. Mmm.

I suppose you're all wondering about the job hunt. First Marblehead, the interview i had last week that i'd been hoping for for weeks; the one with the wonderful people and the one with the great benefits package, is about to make me an offer. I'm not certain what the offer will be, but i liked the people a lot, and the senior recruiter told me they're just waiting for someone else official before they can officially offer me something. So that's pending, and i've been hoping for it for a long time.

Then, on Friday, the president of the company i currently work for told me he'll do what he can to keep me there. Not only that, but we had a sincerely great conversation where he told me that he first of all feels really bad for me about not getting into school, and in general for the string of bad luck i've had. He also told me that the offer they made me to keep me there until August is lower than the offer they'll make me to keep me there for a couple of years. I was floored and confused. I told him the truth: i don't know what to think or what to do. I've had to do a lot of soul-searching that isn't done yet so i can re-evaluate my priorities, and i'm not sure whether Global fits into those new priorities or not, higher pay or no. Then again, the idea of leaving has made me really sad because i loved the people i work with so much. He asked me to think about what i could become an expert on there, and he told me he'd consider the same thing himself. Then he left and went to visit his family in Wisconsin until Wednesday. I was pretty confused and torn and tortured.

On the busride up to Maine the following afternoon, i delved into the shallow worlds of Legally Blonde 2 (loved it!) and Duplex and tried hard not to think too much about the job thing. As Kate wisely said, i'm lacking crucial information that would help me make a decision, like an offer from either company. And Judy wisely also said that no matter what i end up deciding, i have to decide on the job that i want to do. People come and go, and people change. I have to make my decision based on the job, because when all is said and done, that's why everyone is there.

Suffice it to say that this weekend has been good for me. I was with wonderful people, i got to see people and places that made me remember parts of who i am and where i came from, things and people who made me confident about my own voice in this situation. And while i haven't come to any conclusions yet, i feel more at peace about everything in my life than i did before this weekend, and i am now confident that whatever decision i make will be the right one.