White Picket Fences

"So I spent last summer going out at night for drinks with this woman I worked with, she's 28 (and single) and I'm not going to judge someone for being older and going out but... seriously" - Literal conversation I had with a co-worker last week.

I wanted to say "I'm 27, asshole" but seeing as how I had just started there (and for all intents and purposes I like her) I decided against this. Instead I said "Oh, yeah, hmmm."


If you're a certain age in rural communities and you're not married and you don't have children, people wonder what your purpose is. Well, that's a fine question, and from time to time I ask myself the same damn thing. I don't feel purpose-less,  but it does make you reflect on the ideas and things that you want out of life. Without question, I want a partner in life, whether we marry or not I could care less. The kids?? Iffy, that's entirely up to the future.

I picture my life as a series of small (and often times idiotic) movements. I'm looking for a partner who doesn't think I'm nuts, but thinks I'm "whimsy" and "fun." And someone who I can come home to after work and say "I heard about this small town in Puerto Rico, let's move there for six months!", pack their bags that night and get the hell out of town. If you meet this man - send him my way.

Functional Adult Lesson: I learned this a while ago - just because somebody else's choices are completely opposite of what you want out of life, does not make them less important. And if you're honest with yourself, you can see the beauty in what they desire.

And where did you say you were from?

So about a week and half ago I moved back to Alaska for the summer to save money to move again in a few months... it sounds like an unrealistic choice but it made and still makes perfect sense to me.

I had a serving job all lined up for the summer about a month before I even got to town, that's right folks, I'm ambitious. This means I had two days off before jumping right into work again. Everyone that I work with is lovely, albeit young and perhaps a bit "small town" but let's be realistic here, I grew up on an island and have lived in a mountain town for ten years - so, I'm "small town" too.

I remember working at a hotel a few years back and my boss telling me to stop talking about myself and ask the customers more questions about themselves, as I recall it he said "people aren't interested in other people, they just want someone to ask them about themselves." This is true. Very few people have asked me anything about myself, but they sure are eager to jump into a story that they wish to tell. I could ask them a personal question and have a thirty minute response - if I chose to listen that long.

I believe this is teaching me another lesson about being a "functional adult": You become less juvenile about your self-absorption and learn which events merit it and which times you just ask "And where did you say you were from?".