Built SO MUCH furniture today.

Built SO MUCH furniture today. I adore my roommate. First day is tomorrow! I hope I can sleep!

We'll have internet Thursday, so lots of details then.

Goodnight, friends! ❤️

😂 Don't knock it until you try it! 😛

😂 Don't knock it until you try it! 😛

And here comes a migraine.

And here comes a migraine.

Made it to Cincinnati!

Made it to Cincinnati!

So... I have been setting up things...

So... I have been setting up things as they're emailed to me so that I'm ready for training on Monday. It's an exciting process - it makes everything feel so real!

When I got my official email address I noticed that I now have a separate section of apps just for work - and that I can easily toggle them all off at the end of the day.

My new company (I'll post the name on Monday once I'm for really realz there) definitely seems to support a healthy work / life balance. This is just an unexpected show that they are serious.

I am feeling so grateful and excited today. And a little rushed - I guess I need to pack! 😂

Oof.

Oof. I am soaking up all of the cuddles I can get.

My heart. It's breaking. 💔

I've signed my contract...

I've signed my contract and even have a company email.  I've got an apartment in another state that I've never even visited.  I've got a roommate!  My life feels so weird right now.

Look... the "welcome to the program" email made me tear up this morning.  They're going to be greeting us at the door of the building to welcome us in and direct us on the 15th.  I think I'll probably cry.  I'm not planning to - I just think it will happen, which is (I guess) one way to make a first impression.  😂😂😂

I started working in 2001; it was retail.  Next, a warehouse. Then I took a program at a business college to get office work.  Then I spent the next 12-ish years working mainly in 2 offices, but also doing a shit-ton of side jobs to make ends meet.  Then finally Gadsden State and JSU.

I am so grateful to all of the small businesses that helped me throughout my journey, but I always yearned for something different.  Even as far back as 2004 I wished I could work from home.  I always had this anxiety that while I was away at work my house would be robbed (not unlikely in my neighborhood at the time) or it would burn down or that something would happen to Shadow or that my pets would have an emergency and I wouldn't know until it was too late...  There was just so much to worry about and I worried about it ALL.

Now I'm in a much safer neighborhood with my grown kids and my wonderful Shaun (who I joke is my trophy husbang, but honestly - he's a looker 😘) and I'm perfectly happy for Shaun to do whatever floats his boat and for the kids to explore their job / school / career options as young adults while having the safety net of our home.

If "Today Me" could speak to any version of "Past Me" I really don't think "Past Me" would believe that "Today Me" is where we actually are.  Everything that I have going on in my life right now felt like a fantasy and out of reach for so many years.

So yeah, when I walk up those steps on the morning of the 15th I'm probably going to have myself a cry.  Hopefully it's just a little one.