Thank you, thank you, thank you

Sometimes I think it is so difficult to get my needs met. People need all sorts of things: community, food, shelter, meaningful work. Since I moved back to the United States from Nicaragua almost one year ago (it still seems so recent!), it has been difficult for me to get these ducks all lined up at the same time. It has been easy to be happy about being engaged to David, but also difficult to be happy in general. I have been making my new apartment into a home, developing new friendships with people here, and searching and searching for meaningful work. The months of commuting an hour to different temp jobs have taken a toll.

I cannot truly express how grateful I am for my new job. Today was the first day that parents left their children with my head teacher and me at school. Yesterday was the First Day of School, but today was also a first day. I worked at my Montessori school until 12:30, then biked home to cook lunch for myself and do chores and errands. Then I returned to school for the 3:15 weekly staff meeting where we learned about brain research with regards to learning, went over to friends' house for dinner, talked on the phone with Beth for a long time, and here I am in my lovely apartment where I once again have internet thanks to meeting my Slavic languages-studying neighbor while we did laundry in the basement last weekend. I'm borrowing his wireless network.

I am really happy. I had a great second first day of school today. I just love my new job. I love that it is permanent, that I speak Spanish there, that I fit into the school's culture and values. I love biking 13 minutes to work with a friend, I love cooking lunch at home, I love my growing familiarity with this neighborhood, I love building on the friendships that have been established in the last 10 months.

For the first time since Oberlin, I have good shelter, good community, and meaningful work, all at the same time. It feels so good. I sleep well and wake up singing thank you, thank you, thank you.