Sunday, April 19, 2009

North Carolina, the ulitimate test of being flexible


A few weeks ago, on April 1st I go a text from my boss saying that she needed to talk to me and I should call her as soon as possible. So I was getting ready for my Greek Advisor meeting, trying to look all professional, I called her. She told me that she had an opportunity for me to fly to North Carolina, in 3 days and abandon the rest of my Louisiana and Kentucky chapters, and become a Leadership Consultant/House Director (House Mom- just like the movie the House Bunny) for one of our chapters. I laughed and said, "Happy April Fools!". I still had other chapters to visit, ha ha, very funny, she almost got me. Joke was on me when I was boarding a flight out of New Orleans to North Carolina 3 days later.

I never imagined how much my flexibility would be tested in this job, or how many opportunities there would be to have it tested. Even though I expected to be in Kentucky right now, I am in North Carolina. I had forgotten the simple pleasures of being in one place; taking clothes out of a drawer vs. your always packed suitcase, DRIVING!, being able to have coffee whenever the urge strikes, always knowing what time zone you are waking up to. Having my own spaces has been amazing too, the House Directors apartment is really sweet and its nice to have a living/office space separate from my bedroom. The house is beautiful, a registered historic home, one of my favorites from my travels this year, and it helps that I had already visited this chapter in August, so names and faces were familiar.

In some ways I feel like a soccer mom. There are currently 18 residents in the house all between 19-21. I have never driven to Sam's Club and come out with 8 boxes of cereal and 4 gallons of milk, (2%, 1%, and soy of course). But it feels good to be around the same people, no longer developing temporary friendships.

Yesterday was the chapters Founder's Day brunch. The women did an excellent job facilitating the program "Remembering Our Purpose" and I was happy to see that everyone came together to make the brunch happen. I wish that more alumnae could have come.

Real life is starting to set in, and the fact that I only have 3 more weeks left of this job is scary. I have prospects but nothing definite. I guess the hardest lesson that the road has taught me, who color codes everything and NEEDS to have a plan, is that I just have to sit back and enjoy the ride. No matter how much planning goes into something, chances are its going to change.

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