Newsy Tuesday

Bizarre welcoming gift?

I started my new job at the city yesterday.  Yay, verily, I did.

I like it.  I like my new boss.  I like my huge cubicle.  To make the gray rectangle homey, a box of rolled-up drawings stands on one corner of my desk.  I share the space with the comb binding machine, circa 1960. No, it’s not electric.  Muscles required. Additionally, I gained a lovely bottom drawerful of Taco Bell sauce, salt packets, sporks and sundry savory condiments.  Perhaps rashly, I dumped it all into the trash. My cube still smells like French vanilla creamer. Not a bad aroma, kinda like an edible air freshener. The shriveled tangerines, front and center(above), added a pop of unexpected color.  I did wonder if it was some sort of hazing ritual, in lieu of shrunken heads.  What does it mean?!

I’ve gotten the CDBG notebooks and files mostly sorted.  A boatload of subcontractor payroll reviews  loom before me.  I’m slowly meeting my coworkers.  Folks, I’m on the payroll. I’ve got keys to the kingdom and (allegedly) my own parking spot out back. Let’s go!

I ran 5 miles this morning.  I wasn’t into it, but I am learning not to over-think the whole process.  It seems to help.  The weather was warmish, in the high 40s, and dry.  The lilacs bloom now, blowing their scent all around me.  The lilies-of-the-valley add their fragrance.  It’s too wonderful outside to spent much time inside.  Rex agrees.  He found his way downstairs from his napping eerie, nosed open the screen door and plopped on the driveway.  Bliss!

I spoke to a friend today who told me her house sold within 50 hours.  God is moving them on.  They’re moving out of state. Exciting times.  Tis the season, methinks.

I’m excited to see what this phase of life has to offer.  Running is fun again.  Springtime beckons outdoors, celebrating fresh starts.  So far, in my adult life I’ve worked for private companies, nonprofits and churches, on a contract and now for the government.  I’m ready for new beginnings.  The best is yet to come.

This is what the Lord says—
    he who made a way through the sea,
    a path through the mighty waters,
 who drew out the chariots and horses,
    the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
    extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
 “Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
 See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.” – Isaiah 43:16-19