About

Just days after I turned 24, I packed up two suitcases and boarded a small plane to La Guardia airport. I moved into an apartment in a Polish neighborhood with a (not Polish) girl I’d never met (and her two cats), trusting that God was somehow behind all of it. And almost four months later I’m still here despite an underlying concern the city would eat me alive. It hasn’t.

I might be the one and only person in the city who would, given the choice, prefer to live in Arkansas. I miss my small church, small community and the general pace of life in the south. But New York is growing on me. I’m learning to appreciate what it has to offer.

Part of what keeps me going is the job I’ve been blessed with. I think I can honestly say I love my job (for now at least). Volunteering for about 15 months in South Dakota and rural Arkansas probably ruined me for the corporate world. In fact, I had a refreshing evening recently where my roommate and her friends were bemoaning about corporate America and how they can’t wait to get out. I had nothing to contribute to the conversation. See, I work for, essentially, a bunch of celibate men (the Franciscan friars of Holy Name Province) in their Communications Office. Of two. So there is a decent amount of variety in my day, which is great.

My no. 1 and 2 challenges at the moment are finding friends and committing to a church. So I write about that a lot. I thought I found a church but I’ve been wavering a bit. Basically I probably just need to commit, but actually, the friend thing is what’s been causing the wavering (because I kind of hate going to church alone, you see).

I don’t miss not having a car here about 99 percent of the time. I mostly miss it when I have to do laundry or buy groceries (these are also, coincidentally, the times I wish my building had an elevator). But it tends to just remind me how different some aspects of my life are from my closest friends. I don’t watch much TV since we don’t have cable, but I try not to miss The Office and Lost (and Biggest Loser might be my guilty pleasure). I don’t have a microwave, and I don’t plan on changing that anytime soon. I love Real Simple. I wish I read more  books and was more dedicated to blogging. I’m working on it.

So that’s me, I guess. : )