One Year Ago

One year ago this week I received my job offer from EA.

*Pause*

It's kind of weird to think about, that one year ago I was sitting in my leather desk chair (the same one I'm sitting in now) checking my Webmail (on the same terrrible PC I'm using right now), hanging out with Anthony in between classes. I had just that very day sent my personalized thank you emails to the people with whom I'd interviewed.

And then my cell phone rang with a number unfamiliar to me, and my heart sped up just a bit. Could this be it? No, I thought, it's too quick, it's only been a few days. Oh my gosh, but what if it is? Deep breath. Stay calm. You don't know what they'll say.
Don't pick up to quickly or they'll think you're too eager.
Don't wait too long either.

Just answer the phone.

So I did, and I couldn't really even speak to mumble a "Yes, great, thank you" when Elizabeth McCabe told me they wanted to offer me a job.
Wait, what, you're telling me that you want to give me a job 8 MONTHS from now? Like, it'll just be there for me? And you want to pay me?

I got off the phone and screamed.

And now I look at my life just one year later, and I really can't quite fathom all that has happened in one short year. In that year I graduated from college after a semester of absolute carefree fun, punctuated by brief intervals of intense work... surrounded by my closest friends, with very minimal drama in any sense of the word, enjoying Feb Club to its fullest (my name is on a plaque in Smokes to prove it), building and solidifying relationships, taking advantage of the truly lovely city of Philadelphia... Spring Fling, one last semester in Penn Singers where I met some truly amazing people and this one pretty cool guy who flew into my life when I least expected it, Walnut Walk, Senior Week, Mad4Mex margaritas, Locust Walk, College Green, High Rise South, and all the glory of being a second semester college senior.
And then it was over and I was all of a sudden a college graduate, just, out there in the world.

And even thinking back to the five WEEKS Meesh and I spent backpacking in Europe, I sometimes wonder if it was all just a great marvelous dream. Did I really do that? Are all those stories and adventures and crazy random days really part of my life story?

I look back over this past year quite frequently and I often find myself thinking about where I was "one year ago" and am always surprised to find out how much I've grown and changed. It's funny how that happens.

And here I am, one year out from accepting my first real job. Still alive. Still kickin. And still livin. What a ride it has been, and though not always an easy one, I look forward to what I will write about one year from now as I reflect on the adventures, trials, and lessons that bring me through. Ready, set, go.