What a difference a year makes.
Wow. Has it really been 4 months since I've written? So much has changed! I'm back in NYC, and my heart is finally home again. I think I spent the better part of the last 3 1/2 years being homesick. It's a really strange realization because I've always considered myself fairly brave and adventurous. I went to NY, then Boston, for college, I stayed in Boston for 8 years, then I moved to NYC and I never once thought twice about those decisions. I was scared to go to LA, but I did it, thinking I'd just adjust like I had all those other times. It never seemed to happen. I don't think I ever really felt comfortable out there. I never felt like myself, I always felt a bit off, a bit outside the norm, and a bit confused.
When I lost my job, I really thought I lost myself as well. I put my career before almost everything else in my life for so long; without it, who was I? But I realized that I'd lost myself way before that. When a recruiter called me, out of the blue, and asked if I'd consider moving back to NY, I was terrified. Unemployed and flat broke, a cross-country move seemed like the last thing I'd have the energy to accomplish. Plus, meager as it was, I'd built a life in LA and it was scary to think about picking up and leaving it behind again. However, after nearly a year of unemployment, I really had reached rock bottom and was starting to think I'd never be employed again, so I figured I had nothing to lose.
I flew home on July 5th to spend that week with my family before moving up to start my job on the 12th. On the 6th, I went out with Sean. I knew him from high school, and when he'd found out on facebook that I was bicoastal, he asked me if I wanted to get together on one of my trips back east. That was in April, and although I always thought he was cute, I also knew it was pretty pointless to go out with someone on the east coast when I had no idea where life would take me. Aside from all of that, I was still really scarred from my last dating experience and hesitant to even go on a date again. Regardless, when I found out I was moving home, I felt a rush of excitement to start my life over again and get out of the unemployment depression. On a whim, and because he'd been persistent, I agreed to go out with Sean the night after I returned home. Our first date, like I said, was the 6th, and even though at that point, I hadn't planned on it turning into anything, we will be together 4 months tomorrow.
I am in love. With a real man. A man who pursued me, who made his feelings for me clear in plain and simple English and through all of his actions. A man who is willing to work around the fact that I live in New York and he lives 90 miles away in South Jersey. And more importantly, he has a 7-year-old daughter whom I also adore. She's gorgeous and funny and smart and I have so much fun when the 3 of us do things together. Ironically, dating a divorced man with a child has been immeasurably easier than dating most of the single man-children I dated in LA.
In addition to all of that, I love my job. LOVE IT! I am the head legal counsel to a small design company. They design and license fonts, of all things. It's not something I would have ever considered doing before, but I figured it would be interesting to learn software licensing (which is how the fonts are delivered) and I'd still get to use my copyright and trademark knowledge. The company is small, which means I have loads of responsibility and they tell me at least once a week how happy they are with the job I'm doing. I was at Universal for 3 years and was promoted twice and never given any praise for my work. I'm learning to do things I've never had to do outside of law school classes before, and I think it's helping me to be a better lawyer. Also, I'm realizing that I'm really good at drafting precise, efficient, clear agreements. I love everything about this job, and I'm just thrilled that a recruiter somehow found me and knew I'd be a good fit.
I still have to go back to LA and sell my furniture and ship the rest of my stuff back, but overall, this transition has been about as easy as they come and I can't help but think that the cliche is true: Everything really DOES happen for a reason.
My path hasn't been easy, but I've learned a lot over the past year, and I wouldn't change a thing.
When I lost my job, I really thought I lost myself as well. I put my career before almost everything else in my life for so long; without it, who was I? But I realized that I'd lost myself way before that. When a recruiter called me, out of the blue, and asked if I'd consider moving back to NY, I was terrified. Unemployed and flat broke, a cross-country move seemed like the last thing I'd have the energy to accomplish. Plus, meager as it was, I'd built a life in LA and it was scary to think about picking up and leaving it behind again. However, after nearly a year of unemployment, I really had reached rock bottom and was starting to think I'd never be employed again, so I figured I had nothing to lose.
I flew home on July 5th to spend that week with my family before moving up to start my job on the 12th. On the 6th, I went out with Sean. I knew him from high school, and when he'd found out on facebook that I was bicoastal, he asked me if I wanted to get together on one of my trips back east. That was in April, and although I always thought he was cute, I also knew it was pretty pointless to go out with someone on the east coast when I had no idea where life would take me. Aside from all of that, I was still really scarred from my last dating experience and hesitant to even go on a date again. Regardless, when I found out I was moving home, I felt a rush of excitement to start my life over again and get out of the unemployment depression. On a whim, and because he'd been persistent, I agreed to go out with Sean the night after I returned home. Our first date, like I said, was the 6th, and even though at that point, I hadn't planned on it turning into anything, we will be together 4 months tomorrow.
I am in love. With a real man. A man who pursued me, who made his feelings for me clear in plain and simple English and through all of his actions. A man who is willing to work around the fact that I live in New York and he lives 90 miles away in South Jersey. And more importantly, he has a 7-year-old daughter whom I also adore. She's gorgeous and funny and smart and I have so much fun when the 3 of us do things together. Ironically, dating a divorced man with a child has been immeasurably easier than dating most of the single man-children I dated in LA.
In addition to all of that, I love my job. LOVE IT! I am the head legal counsel to a small design company. They design and license fonts, of all things. It's not something I would have ever considered doing before, but I figured it would be interesting to learn software licensing (which is how the fonts are delivered) and I'd still get to use my copyright and trademark knowledge. The company is small, which means I have loads of responsibility and they tell me at least once a week how happy they are with the job I'm doing. I was at Universal for 3 years and was promoted twice and never given any praise for my work. I'm learning to do things I've never had to do outside of law school classes before, and I think it's helping me to be a better lawyer. Also, I'm realizing that I'm really good at drafting precise, efficient, clear agreements. I love everything about this job, and I'm just thrilled that a recruiter somehow found me and knew I'd be a good fit.
I still have to go back to LA and sell my furniture and ship the rest of my stuff back, but overall, this transition has been about as easy as they come and I can't help but think that the cliche is true: Everything really DOES happen for a reason.
My path hasn't been easy, but I've learned a lot over the past year, and I wouldn't change a thing.