Family first

Mother’s Day got me thinking about how much I’ve missed these past 7 months after moving away.

Every holiday, birthdays, and little family gatherings. Sometimes I feel bad for myself about it, but not right now.  I get to see my family around the holidays or soon after, but I don’t get to see my extended family like before.

I talk to my mom almost every day and my dad a few times a week. They know what’s going on in my life and I try to see them once a month. But talking to my godmother yesterday, I remembered what family has always meant to me. I may have whined and complained about road trips to see extended family as a teenager, but I got to develop real relationships with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. All of whom have shaped me in some way or another.

Sitting with one of my lifelong friends yesterday, one who gets to go home even less than I do. We talked about how growing up and moving away has given us new appreciation for our parents. Both of us couldn’t wait to grow up and get out, now as adults we have a much different view. We’ve both moved away and don’t necessarily want to move back to our hometown, but don’t want to be too far either.

When you’re starting out, you have to give up quite a bit to follow your dreams. And that’s OK, it’s expected, and hopefully fulfilling. It also teaches you quite a bit. It teaches you what matters most. Family, friends, relationships, hobbies. For me, family comes first. That encompasses my closes friends too.

Money and jobs are great, but they’re nothing without people to share it with. Call me crazy for driving 14 hours round trip once a month to see people for 48 hours, but I think it’s time well spent. Those visits are something that can’t be replaced or substituted with anything else.

Relationships don’t have a dollar value, they’re worth so much more.

Training Bra

Middle school awkwardness has nothing on the post-grad awkward phase. The biggest struggles in middle school were trying to fill in an A-cup and not being completely socially awkward. I’ve only exceeded one of those goals, I’ll let you figure it out for yourself. Post-grad awkward is a whole new breed of social cruelty. Navigating the route of “I’m an adult and supposed to be independent” while still owing your university a pound of flesh. (If only that was an acceptable form of payment.) Hassled with finding a job that is actually in your field of choice and isn’t the modern day version of slave labor known as an “unpaid internship”. As it’s only a few months since graduation, most of us are still in the same boat, either unemployed or working at a minimum wage job only for the paycheck. The other groups consist of those who immediately found their dream job and those miserable working in the field they chose. I’m thrilled for those who have jobs they love, it gives me hope. If at 22 years old you can start fulfilling your dreams and skip the filler jobs, that’s a rare opportunity. I don’t envy those who get into a job only to be miserable. Maybe it’s the millennial in me speaking, but I hate the idea of having a job just for the sake of having a job. If the only thing your getting out of your position is a paycheck then are you really getting as much as you can out of life? I understand having to work your way up and earn your position, but if you dread waking up in the morning and wait not so patiently for five o’clock, you’re just watching the second hand on the clock wipe your life away. Who am I kidding, we’re watching the time on our iPhones. Here’s to hoping we can fulfill our lives while paying off Shylock. I’d rather be struggling to fill in my training bra.