I have been coming to the New Jersey shore long before Snooki or the Situation. Truth be told, I am old enough to be Snooki’s mother and at my Jersey shore a “situation” means your monthly visitor came early and you have to go to the drugstore for supplies. (Sorry male readers)
We’ve stayed in the same hotel since before I drove and used to come with family. We are not really shore pool people; why would you go to the hotel pool when you can sit and watch the ocean and fight for your tiny corner of the “public” beach? But today, it was so hot, I wanted to stay close to my air-conditioned room so I visited the hotel pool.
It was not crowded at all and as I swam around in the pool I realized I’d been swimming in this same pool for over 30 years! I survived high school, graduated, joined the work force (7 jobs and counting), dated, got married, bought a house, lost loved ones, made lifelong friends, learned to walk again after a bad ankle injury (long story), did a 3-year long job search and here I am. Almost back to 30 years ago when I wondered what my adult life would be like.
Like it or lump it, face it or deny it, work is a big part of our lives. And when this piece is out of kilter, at least for me, the rest of my life is out of whack. And if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know it’s been out of whack for a long time now.
Yes, I got a job a month ago. But I know it’s not the job for me. I have money coming in, for which I am soooooooo grateful, but I am so unhappy and so disappointed I can’t even tell you. Three years of hard work, blood, sweat and tears, literally, and I land a job I knew from Day 1 was a mistake. Hard to swallow friends.
If I return to this pool in a few months or next year, will I still be out of whack? I barely remember that teenage girl who swam in that pool all those years ago, but I know she had hopes and dreams for her life. And they didn’t include being in a job she didn’t like. I’ve got to make it right for her and for me.
Everybody out of the pool . . . and back onto monster.com . . .
