Saturday, September 27, 2008

If I told you what it takes to reach the highest high/You'd laugh and say nothing's that simple

Je suis libre!

Today marks the first day of my liberation from Big Coffee. I woke up this morning at 5 am, unable to go back to sleep. Since, for the nonce, my time is my own, I got up a half hour later. I don't have to be well-rested -- I don't have to go to work today or tomorrow or the next day.

After working the last six days in a row for a total of 43 or 44 hours, I should be more tired, and I probably am. I was too sleepy last night to stay up like a rebellious child so instead I got up in the chilly pre-dawn light with no plan for the morning. So here I sit, half watching "Fringe."

I didn't know how the last day would be. My extreme relief and happiness to be done with this job seemed to override any sadness I was feeling about losing my daily contact with Michael and Marta. By happy circumstance (Michael insists it was not kindness on our manager's part) the three of us were working together for several hours, both of them leaving before me. I was prone to the sudden hugging of each of them which seemed to stifle the emotion that was trying to bubble up. When it came time for them to go I was okay. I choked back some tears and went back to work. Luckily, I suppose, my last two hours of working were extraordinarily busy and a little frantic. The vultures were circling as customers flocked in to clutch and claw at the free things we were offering. A memory that will not leave me yearning to work retail again any time soon. As I walked out that door for the last time I did not feel one tinge of regret; just relief.

I woke up on Friday morning with a new jewelry idea in my head, the first time that's happened in nearly a year. I hope this is the beginning of being able to recapture that part of myself.

And here's the song that's been reverberating in my head all week.

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