As I approach the anniversary of the day I returned from my grand adventure to Scotland, I'm going to be sharing some of the adventures, big and small, God has lead me in since being back. To those who have been reading the blog through this season, you'll recognize some of these things from previous posts. Mostly I have been thinking about the ways I've been able to see these pieces come together and I want them documented. So here's part 1:
When I flew into San Francisco International Airport on September 25th, 2012 I only knew that I wanted to get home and go to sleep (mostly because it was late at night, I had been in 4 different countries - or at least airports therein, and I had been awake for well over 24hrs, but partially because one of the inanimate objects I'd missed most was my beautiful and cozy antique bed). After that my to do list was pretty simple, at least at first. I had a list of people I wanted to see and hug, a couple of iconic California foods/restaurants I'd been dying to have again, and beyond that I mostly just wanted to carve a little time out to sit and process the big things that I'd just done - that felt - and in many ways still feel - so unreal. However, my thoughts were quickly running ahead and getting tripped up and tangled in next steps on how to find a job and whatnot and what now.
My parents and I had planned to head to Southern California a few days after we got back to Sacramento to celebrate some milestone birthdays in our family. That trip got delayed a bit; and I'm grateful now for those delays because during that week I got a chance to unpack a bit, and visit some friends in the greater Sacramento area.
We drove to Southern California in my parents car, planning on them leaving me with my brother and sister-in-law for about a week or so. I spent that week or so doing some job hunting and catching up with people. Then, as planned, my brother and I drove to Sacramento. That night, I got my first lead on a job since being back in the states: an email saying I had an interview that would most likely end in a job on Thursday. It was Tuesday. So after worrying a lot (on my part) and discussing it with my parents, Wednesday morning I got up, had breakfast with my family, picked up my car from the shop and drove back to Burbank. And Thursday I started working for The Last Bookstore in their warehouse. It was fantastic! I spent about a month and a half turning a mountain of boxes of books into hills of boxes of books (according to genre), as well as organizing the Fiction, Classics, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Cookbooks, Children's and YA shelves.
When I got that job it was with hopes that it might turn into something more - perhaps at the bookstore, where I might learn even more about the book business. However I was also aware that there was every possibility that it might not last beyond a few months. My last day at the warehouse was the last day of November.
While I was sad to leave a warehouse FULL OF BOOKS, I was looking forward to being able to spend the holidays with my family without having to worry about when I would have to be back at work. Aside from giving me the opportunity to work with books, and learn a bit more about retail as regards books, I also now have a month and a half of stories of commuting in horrific L.A. traffic, working in a random warehouse in Downtown, and I also was able to be present for some celebrations with friends that would have been too far away, had I been in Sacramento.
part 2: here
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