Words to live by

At the end of a conversation I had with my Dad on the phone yesterday, I wished him a great day at work and he promptly responded, "Thanks, Porotito. You too!" Wow, I thought. I am now one of those working people... with a job--a job that isn't merely to pass the time in the summer (though this last summer that kind of job seemed unnecessary as temporary retirement was sooooo much better :). And yesterday--being the first day of classes of the fall 2009 semester at USD--marked the first official day that I really felt separated from university life. The smell of new used books fresh from the abysmally long lines at the bookstore... Pens and notebooks gracing every free surface of my room... "A bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils"--thank you Meg Ryan (I know you'll like that one, Mom ;)... The floury texture of a hummus wrap from La Paloma... All these things have gradually faded into memories that I fall back on, and now my room has been replaced (temporarily) with hotel pens, wine lists, menus, and "work clothes" that hang limp, void of personality in my closet. But, on the other hand, when I'm not working, my free time is totally mine. There's no pressure to work on a paper or start a new book or get add/drop form signatures at the last minute. Of course student life still has that golden hue for me, but who doesn't hold a special reverence for college days? This life isn't so bad either, especially now that I have two days off--two days of total freedom! My feet may hurt, the list of 'things I miss' may be growing slightly everyday, and I don't know where exactly I'll be living or what I'll be doing three weeks from now, but I know I've at least made a step toward something new, which feels pretty damn great in itself.

All this talk of life, changes and blahblahblah. I may as well start quoting Carrie Bradshaw, but I'll save that for another time. Instead, I'll leave you with a few words of wisdom I carry with me everyday. They came to me in the last week I spent in San Diego. A week that was filled with so many great memories, but one that was also slightly tainted by the pending goodbyes we all knew we had to face. I was spending a quiet morning recovering from a fabulous night out at the Comber, and to cure my well deserved headache, I made a cup of Yogi Tea. (For those of you who are not familiar with Yogi Tea, you should be. They offer a smashing variety of tea melodies, but more importantly, each tea bag comes with a little fortune that dangles on the end of the string. I'm slightly obsessed if you haven't already grasped that.) Back to May 2009... I ceremoniously waited for my tea to steep a few minutes before reading the white tag--as rushing your fortune just seems like back luck to me--and it read:

"Love what is ahead by loving what has come before."

Coincidence, right? Okay, sure, it's entirely possible that 500,000 other people have received the same fortune, but the timing was too perfect. So I push realism aside and choose to believe that those words were specifically meant for me, that that moment was somehow planned in the universe and I am better because of it. I'm such a believer that I have faithfully carried that white tag in my wallet ever since. It reminds me of the people I love, of a great time in my life, but it also reminds me to let go, to live on, and to enjoy the new moments as they are. It can get better from here.