Here I am, sitting on a plane - awaiting my first big day at Life Will Work Out Incorporation. The office sits on a hill in inland San Diego, an area I like to refer to as The Boonies. It is owned by a generous couple I call Mama and Pop, a couple who kindly tend their vineyard and make sure their Australian shepherd herds gophers because sheep don’t exist where they are (check them out here: http://www.winemakersjournal.com/bluemerlewinery.html). The closest sign of civilization is a deli, 2 miles away.
Life Will Work Out Inc is where I, the recent post-college-graduate, will reside until I, the one and only worker for LWWO, will find another organization. Hoping to find an organization with the same philosophy as Mama and Pop, just providing a different workload.
For the two months since graduation, I stayed at my small liberal arts college, the other summer students (who were still “real” students) looked at me with strange looks and “You’re still here?” I was grasping onto the last rope of hope that an organization other than LWWO would hire me. For two months, JD, my professor and mentor, offered me a position with her company for a life-touching internship. But of course, internships last for only so long, and no one was next in line to take the rope from her. Well, except for Mama and Pop. But in order to work for them, they require you to drop your rope, plunge into a 7-hour flight, drive an hour to The Boonies, a shovel in your backpack and dog treats in your pocket. And not regular dog treats; hypoallergenic made with premium salmon – more expensive than your typical Starbucks. So basically, this place is not exactly the ideal job or place for a post-college-graduate.
However, with the experience of my JD internship, four years away from my home in the West, and the potential to figure out how life is supposed to work out, I am actually looking forward to the long labor hours.
Training begins tomorrow. I am allowed to visit friends, but must return before dark and before Mama considers firing me. As part of the contract, projects are flexible and depending can be daily, weekly, or monthly. Goals foster around the ideals of healthy living in both mind and body, productivity of wine and resume output, and most importantly - creating a loving, gracious work environment. Something that can be a challenge, but one I do not want to take for granted anymore.
This blog is meant to document my experiences post-college graduation. There are big expectations and big dreams and one day, I hope there is a big move. But for now, I am content and ready to begin where I grew, grow where I began.
This blog also intends to document experiences pre-and at-college. Experiences that did shape my life views, that will help with my experience at LWWO and how I can move forward.
So, welcome. Please feel free to comment, and if you are interested in posting your own stories, lets talk and see how we can do so. My best wishes, Hanako.
