Posted on December 4, 2007 in Life-etc, with 3 comments.

It was cold. Me and my new wife are from Texas, where cold is 50 degrees, freezing is 40, and anything less than that is a day off. But it’s different here in Philadelphia, and on Thanksgiving it was a cold one.

We had been here in Philly for about 2 weeks, and new position afforded me a a much needed 4 day weekend for Thanksgiving. Having only been here a short time, and still getting settled in, we decided to stay in town, and find a nice restaurant with a turkey dinner.

As with most outings now, Josie (my wife) fired up her brand new iPhone, and found a place to eat, driving directions, and was able to make reservations. It was a nice place, normally a seafood restaurant, and surprisingly busy (to us at least) for a Thanksgiving evening. We got seated right away though (thanks to the reservations), and sat down for our first Thanksgiving as husband and wife.

It was different, being away from home, and only us two. But it was nice. We spent the majority of the evening recollecting on how quickly our lives had changed, and what we were thankful for. In the last few months we: got married, went to Hawaii for a beautiful (albeit expensive and hot) honeymoon in Maui, applied for a bunch of design jobs all over the US, flew to Philly for a sudden and unexpected interview, packed up all of our earthly belongings, and drove across the US in a large rented truck – desperately hoping the place we would rent was going to be decent.

The company I now work for is a large-ish media firm located outside Philadelphia in the small ton of Yardley. Although I applied for a ‘web designer’ position, when they replied to me they had me interview for the ‘lead designer’ position. I wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t for Josie. A very pleasant surprise. So after all the boring stuff (buying a suit, stressing out over a little shaving cream on the collar, and meeting with a few of the people here) I was offered the position.

I took it.

So now, I’m the lead designer for the online team of the Journal Register Company. We operate a bunch of different papers all across the northeast, and my first task is to redesign all the websites we operate as well (at my estimate, over 20 daily newspaper sites, maybe over 100 weekly papers, and at least over a 100 niche/specialty sites. It’s a large task, but I’m enjoying every minute of it.

So as we sat, and talked, I thought about how different my life had become. No longer was a part-time web designer, part-time night clerk at the Holiday Inn. There would be no more double shifts at this job, or that job. No more complete days when Josie and I (because of overlapping schedules) would miss each other completely. I would finally be doing the work I love, the work I’ve always wanted to do, in a completely new, and interesting place.

As we walked back to the car that night, and drove through beautiful downtown Philadelphia (with Christmas lights up, no less), I got a little homesick. A lot had changed, and we had relocated ourselves far, far away from all we knew. But I smiled a little, and squeezed Josie’s hand. We had just taken the first step of the rest of our lives. This (life) was our adventure, and we had finally begun to embark. So feeling a little homesick was ok, in all honesty, it seemed perfectly appropriate.

Comments

Leave your comment

Name
Remember

E-mail
Textile Help

Website

Message