Thursday, December 13, 2007

Hi. I don't want to get any work done today. Do you?

This post is for Laura (who I cannot link to for she must not have blogger, Laura, when you read this, let me know if you have a blog or some such because I’d like to visit it).

Laura wondered how I got here from Billings, since my crazed deletion of past entries, there is no historical data available for her to peruse. The truth is that I don’t think I really ever explained that, so here we go:

(in the third person, just for shits and giggles)

Flibberty was born and raised in Minnesota. She graduated high school and went to college in Wisconsin, where she learned to appreciate the delicate differences between Pabst and Old Milwaukee. She always loved kids, so she decided to major in developmental psychology. She graduated cum laude, which she thought was a good thing, until she couldn’t find a job that paid more than $8 an hour. So she went to law school. In law school, she advanced her palate by learning the subtle differences between Miller lite and Bud Lite. She also worked a lot, and did pretty well, and landed a job in a successful law firm. Then her hair started falling out, and she stopped sleeping, and THE STRESS of the job was killing her. So she up and moved to Montana, where the offer of a quiet, low stress job awaited her.

Flibberty spent three years in Montana. Her job was indeed quiet, but it wasn’t exactly stress free. Saying that any job is truly stress free is a LIE. Flibberty loved Montana, but she didn’t love some of the folks she worked for. She also didn’t love the fact that some of the folks she worked for didn’t think so highly of women, and routinely asked her to do things that an attorney wouldn’t do, like get coffee. But she persevered, because it was a job and it was a decent job and she liked the life she had in Billings. She also managed to meet her future husband, who was a wind farmer in Judith Gap Montana. He had a beard, and was funny and she fell madly in love with him after their second date. She also let him get to third base on their second date, which was so hoochie of her.

Anyway, Flibberty sometimes talked with another co-worker about wanting to move up in her career, and feeling that she wasn’t going to get anywhere in Billings. This co-worker had a connection with someone very high up in the entity-that-must-not-be-named, and he called this high up person and a few months later, Flibberty was offered a job in Chicago. She took it, and despite some misgivings, she was excited. Her partner was too, but they both had moments of “are we doing the right thing?”

So they moved, and now here they are, six months later. They got engaged and Brett went back to school and they miss their friends and also miss affordable housing. Flibberty learned that she’s not as career motivated as she thought she was, but she also learned that it might be okay to be this way. Every place seems to have it’s own good and bads, and Flibberty learned that you just have to make sure you do good work and sleep soundly at night. Sometimes you gotta take some risks and get out of your comfort level to learn some stuff about yourself. The rest will soon be history.

9 comments:

Jess said...

I love that tidbit about third base on the second date. I SO did that too. I mean, what?

Also, I had no idea about that wind farmer thing. But that is so cool.

Tess said...

Laura, I would like to read your blog too. Damn Blogger and its weird comment shenanigans.

Pabst and Old Milwaukee. Heh. You forgot Michelob Golden. The beer of choice of every Minnesotan I have ever met. You can't even GET it in Texas.

artemisia said...

Brett was a wind farmer? THAT IS AWESOME.

We have plenty of wind down this way, if you guys ever miss it. Or harness it.

The third person approach worked; fun post!

Stephanie said...

I love this story. I have been struggling with the same issue (moving away, being unhappy, etc) and you have left me some wonderful comments, since you're sort of going through the same thing.

I loved your last couple lines - "Sometimes you gotta take some risks and get out of your comfort level to learn some stuff about yourself. The rest will soon be history."

For some reason, this was very comforting to me. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

That was very informative, and also not hoochie. I mean, if it feels right, time shouldn't be an issue. And I agree with Jess about the wind farming. Fascinating.

LoriD said...

That wind farming thing is very cool. And, I always picture men from Montana to have beards. They all do, don't they?

Anonymous said...

Well hey, thanks for the post! I actually...don't have a blog, but I'm thinking about it! Anyway, very interesting entry -- I have to say, there are very few law firm associates who trekked to Montana for a lifestyle change, but I really admire your adventurous spirit. I just kept switching law firms, thinking that eventually I would fine one that fit juuussst right. Yeah - never happened. That's how I landed in-house, and it's a much less stressful life, although I do miss the law firm paychecks.

Black Sheeped said...

Those darn beards.

What do you think of Stag?

Anonymous said...

I didn't know you lived in (around) Chicago, I'm in Schaumburg (but moving to NE WI in a few weeks)....are you actually in the city? I don't blame you for feeling some of what you've been feeling, its def a different world here than from Montana (or from WI even...)