The Kindness of Strangers.

An older gentleman flagged me down tonight as I walked home tonight in the rain without an umbrella. "Miss! Miss! Where are you going?" I told him, and he insisted on walking with me to keep me dry, because it wasn't far from where he was headed.

He introduced himself, and I told him my name. He explained to me how his surgeon friend gave him a tip about how to always dress in light layers in the winter, so as not to sweat. If you do this, he said, you will never get the flu. "I haven't had a cold in 18 long years!" he happily declared. I was further informed of how I should consider a freezing cold water numbing option at the dentist (because it is such high technology, I don't even need Novocaine).

"Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked as his next non sequiter. I told him I did, and that in fact, I had a fiancé and am getting married in two months. He advised me not to do it, telling me that that marriage was just a piece of paper and asked a rhetorical question about why I would want to change something if it already works.

He had just come from his girlfriend Isabella's house a few blocks away. He told me he had gotten her a fourteen karat gold ring with a blue topaz for their fifth anniversary, and that it had cost him about $700. He asked if I wanted to know what he got her for their tenth, and warned me that he didn't have any smelling salts, and that I might fall over. The gift was a gold necklace with her name plate and 35 tiny diamonds!

He then told me how I could "psychologically" go about getting my fiancé to buy me a gold and topaz ring: I should tell Nick over a cup of coffee that I had seen this book on the ground and in the pages was a picture of this beautiful gold topaz ring, and that ever since, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

He finally wrapped up the mostly one-sided conversation on my doorstep. "Good luck with your boyfriend! God Bless You," he said. And we parted ways.

transitions galore.

A lot has changed since I last blogged. I got engaged April 10th (I suppose I’ll save that story for when I finally launch a wedding website), turned in my resignation letter to All Souls stating that my last day of work was June 25th, and last Wednesday, I packed all my earthly possessions in the back of a 10 foot Budget rental truck and drove over 600 miles “home” to Pennsylvania.

I’ve been in a transitional state (yes, again!) since January of this year. I knew big decisions were to be made within the next six months. Getting engaged long distance, quitting your job, moving over 600 miles to a new city, planning a wedding, and hunting for employment is a LOT to balance, but that’s what I’ve been attempting for the past three months. Honestly sometimes it’s hard for me to picture what this process would look like for “normal” people who have actually dated in the same town and are planning to combine lives. They say that wedding planning is stressful but WOW, this must be a whole new level.

So we have no date yet, because just this past Saturday we were finally able to go visit venues together. It was so good to finally go and experience such an important part of this process together in person instead of just being stuck doing research, research and more research online. We hope to be able to come to a decision in the next couple weeks and finally set a date! I promise you, dear friends, when we finally know something in stone, it won’t be long before you’ve been informed.

Last week I moved all my non-essentials to my parents’ house, and packed Nick’s car full of the rest and moved me up to Jersey City Heights, which is about a 20 minute walk from Nick’s place in Hoboken. I’m subleasing here for the next month or two, but will have to come up with a new plan come the beginning of September. I am realizing that while I do have savings, they won’t last very long with NYC cost of living. I will need a job before long, and ideally I would like to find something that is in the editorial world. I’ve considered the idea of being a live-in nanny or working retail, etc. just to make ends’ meat but something keeps pushing me to just go ahead and apply for jobs that actually relate to my career path for a month or so before “giving in.” We’ll see how that goes.

I spent the 4th of July on the Hoboken pier with Nick and his friends from Hoboken Grace. It was a poignant moment, sitting there under the fireworks, considering that everything started between Nick and I on the fourth of July two years ago. Back then we (especially I) fumbled things pretty badly. I knew I liked him but wasn’t sure what I wanted, and here we are, months from spending the rest of our lives together. God sure has a sense of humor.

Feel free to call or write (leave a comment if you don’t know have my current contact info). I’m unemployed again, so I’ve got all the time in the world ;)