It's not like I'm turning into a new person; it's not as though I'm entering the witness protection program or will be otherwise cut off from anything I currently consider 'me' or 'mine'.
I am, however, starting a new job, in a new city, with new friends...
...and, for the first time in my waking life, the fiscal year is starting, but I'm not returning to school.
(That's not quite true; I took a year off after my masters degree, but then, I always knew I'd be back; now, I have my terminating degree [said with dread and always a thundering echo - doesn't it sound so awful and almost like you're going to become extinct or something?]. There is no reason to think I would ever go back to school.)
It's an odd feeling, to not be a student anymore. When I finished my DMA, I was so. damn. ready. to be done and out of there, that I think I didn't quite realize what exactly it was that I was leaving...
...a community, a safety net, a way to learn and live from within the confines of brick buildings and ivy-lined walls.
But now... now I have my own vines growing on my very own fence, and I've truly been lucky, in that my teachers have taught me to teach myself.
So, the 9 years of college and beyond have left me well-equipped. Tonight, I'm enforcing an early bedtime, so that the 5:20am wake-up call to meet the movers in New Brunswick doesn't feel like a beckoning to the 8th circle of hell, and by tomorrow night, with any luck, I'll be in Philadelphia, making headway on unpacking my too-many-to-even-estimate-how-many boxes.
New roommate, new job, new city, new awesome apartment.
Same old me.
3 comments:
Wait until you get to your first summer vacation only it isn't. I guess as a teacher you never quite get there but I will never forget the shock of June not meaning much of anything in terms of my job.
Congratulations on entering the next phase of your life!
Dude, you are going to rock it in Philly. It's fun here. :-)
Thanks to both of you for the votes of confidence. :-)
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