On Mountains and Molehills and Friendship
Jean Sexton muses:
ADB is a closely knit company. Most days the Steves, Leanna, and I go out to lunch together. Fridays we have boys/girls lunch out as the guys love the barbeque at one place and Leanna and I would rather eat elsewhere. This Monday we chose to eat at a place and the meal turned into a disaster. The room was cold to the point that we were shivering, after more than 30 minutes the meal hadn't arrived and was still not near ready, and the service was such that we were having to call out to people to get them to stop at our table. We left, went to a fast-food place, ate, and got back to the office, still having had a two-hour lunch and thus an hour shorter workday.
I was reflecting on my day and decided it was "stressful." This morning I decided to think about the "stressful" day and see if it were really stressful. To do this I looked at my page on Facebook, which is basically an online diary for me, in addition to keeping up with my varied interests. Six months ago I was worried -- would I have an apartment? Would my former landlord be able to give me a good reference? After all he was trying to figure out if I wanted an apartment through him when we chatted last and he was finding it hard to remember who I was. How could I get the utilities turned on when I didn't even have a place to live? Could I keep packing things up for the move? How would I get moved out in just two days? Could I get my office handled? How would the "Real Life" work go? Could I get my staff's evaluations done and approved? Would I like Texas? What needed to be done to become a legal resident there? Would I be homesick for my beautiful North Carolina and my gardens? How would I cope with only knowing four people in Amarillo?
A bad lunch experience pales in the light of those worries. I was making a mountain out of a molehill. Even my legitimate worries turned out to be molehills eventually. I got the apartment and my former landlord remembered me well enough to give me the reference of being an "above average" tenant. I found out how to do the utilities (much easier than the last time I had to handle that issue nearly 30 years ago), materials did get packed and shipped (and I was wise to do so as the largest truck the rental place had was filled top to bottom, front to back), the move was accomplished with the help of dear friends, and I wound up my professional life as a librarian in a way that left me with no regrets. While I miss the lush North Carolina landscape, I find the beautiful blue skies of Texas bring me joy. I have found gardens that I look at on the way to and from work, and I enjoy them. I'll have plants on my patio in time.
The one thing I needn't have worried about is not knowing anyone in Amarillo. Thanks to social media, my friends are there at my fingertips, just an electronic pulse away. I merely have to reach out and they respond. They comment on my mountains and my molehills. They offer support and doses of reality when I need grounding. The best of friends have a way of letting you gently know that you are heading off into drama queen territory and offering a hand to get you off that cliff edge. I am so fortunate to have so many friends, all through the country and the world. So many of them I have found through the Star Fleet Universe with our common interests there. Thanks to social media, I've been able to reconnect with friends from school and college. And I have made some friends since the move.
I'd like to take today to thank my friends that have offered laughter and kindness through the years and to my new friends that I suspect will be there, too. Sometimes they don't know how much their words mean. Today, I hope they will. And I hope that I can give them the same lift and support when they need it, whether it be over a mountain or a molehill.
May your day be filled with friends both near and far, and may your mountains turn out to be molehills.
ADB is a closely knit company. Most days the Steves, Leanna, and I go out to lunch together. Fridays we have boys/girls lunch out as the guys love the barbeque at one place and Leanna and I would rather eat elsewhere. This Monday we chose to eat at a place and the meal turned into a disaster. The room was cold to the point that we were shivering, after more than 30 minutes the meal hadn't arrived and was still not near ready, and the service was such that we were having to call out to people to get them to stop at our table. We left, went to a fast-food place, ate, and got back to the office, still having had a two-hour lunch and thus an hour shorter workday.
I was reflecting on my day and decided it was "stressful." This morning I decided to think about the "stressful" day and see if it were really stressful. To do this I looked at my page on Facebook, which is basically an online diary for me, in addition to keeping up with my varied interests. Six months ago I was worried -- would I have an apartment? Would my former landlord be able to give me a good reference? After all he was trying to figure out if I wanted an apartment through him when we chatted last and he was finding it hard to remember who I was. How could I get the utilities turned on when I didn't even have a place to live? Could I keep packing things up for the move? How would I get moved out in just two days? Could I get my office handled? How would the "Real Life" work go? Could I get my staff's evaluations done and approved? Would I like Texas? What needed to be done to become a legal resident there? Would I be homesick for my beautiful North Carolina and my gardens? How would I cope with only knowing four people in Amarillo?
A bad lunch experience pales in the light of those worries. I was making a mountain out of a molehill. Even my legitimate worries turned out to be molehills eventually. I got the apartment and my former landlord remembered me well enough to give me the reference of being an "above average" tenant. I found out how to do the utilities (much easier than the last time I had to handle that issue nearly 30 years ago), materials did get packed and shipped (and I was wise to do so as the largest truck the rental place had was filled top to bottom, front to back), the move was accomplished with the help of dear friends, and I wound up my professional life as a librarian in a way that left me with no regrets. While I miss the lush North Carolina landscape, I find the beautiful blue skies of Texas bring me joy. I have found gardens that I look at on the way to and from work, and I enjoy them. I'll have plants on my patio in time.
The one thing I needn't have worried about is not knowing anyone in Amarillo. Thanks to social media, my friends are there at my fingertips, just an electronic pulse away. I merely have to reach out and they respond. They comment on my mountains and my molehills. They offer support and doses of reality when I need grounding. The best of friends have a way of letting you gently know that you are heading off into drama queen territory and offering a hand to get you off that cliff edge. I am so fortunate to have so many friends, all through the country and the world. So many of them I have found through the Star Fleet Universe with our common interests there. Thanks to social media, I've been able to reconnect with friends from school and college. And I have made some friends since the move.
I'd like to take today to thank my friends that have offered laughter and kindness through the years and to my new friends that I suspect will be there, too. Sometimes they don't know how much their words mean. Today, I hope they will. And I hope that I can give them the same lift and support when they need it, whether it be over a mountain or a molehill.
May your day be filled with friends both near and far, and may your mountains turn out to be molehills.
posted by Federation Commander at 1:40 PM
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