Here I am…
I feel like I’ve been so out of touch. I love the journaling…I love writing about life here in NYC …so, it has been very difficult not to be writing and updating everyone (as well as chronicling my life here.).
There is a huge gap for the last part of July and the entire month of August. I don’t have to make up an excuse or anything. It can all be explained with one word: Mononucleosis. I’ve known several people who’ve had Mono, but I had no first hand experience of what it’s like until recently. I feel like I completely lost a month. I was just not myself. I was constantly tired and wiped out from doing nothing but getting out of bed.
There isn’t a lot that can be done for Mono. You pretty much have to rest and let it run its course. So…that’s what I did. It completely sucked the life and energy right out of me. I like to think of myself as a person who’s pretty much up-beat and always doing something. Well, Mono shut me down completely. I would wake up at 8am and sent out resumes, headshots, etc. and by 11am I had this overwhelming need to take a nap. So, I’d lie down and wouldn’t wake up until the middle of the afternoon. I would shower and dress and then head to the GAP to work from around 4pm to 10pm. I would walk out from the building each night, hurting with each step, and look at the cabs thinking, “Tonight I will just pay and get a car to take me home instead of fighting the subway.” But then the thought of spending the extra money would change my mind.
There are many ways to contract mono - something that didn’t help me was unbalanced diet. Like I said above…I love journaling, but I do find that I edit myself from time to time. There have been many glorious, exciting, wonderful weeks here in New York, but there have also been some dark, trying weeks. There was a week when I had $24.71 to my name. There have been several weeks when I was eating just one meal a day. I didn’t write about that. I never thought about writing about it. I would never want it to be misconstrued as whining or complaining. This great adventure is what I wanted and chose. Sacrifices are pretty much par for the course.
Though I wasn’t feeling well – those were also a couple of weeks of great faith. My insurance has remained since leaving Atlanta (thanks to Margaret and Peachtree!) but I was having a difficult time finding a Doctor here in Manhattan who accepted it. I was getting desperate and knew that I had to get help…with or without coverage. I wasn’t sure how I was going to pay for any kind of Doctor’s visit or prescriptions, but I had to do something.
The day I made up my mind to go to the Doctor (know matter WHAT it costs me) was the day I went to my mailbox and found a note from a dear couple in Rome, Georgia. It was brief and sweet. They were wanting me to know that they were thinking about me and praying for me. They had also enclosed a check to help me out with whatever needs I might have. I just started crying in the hallway of my building. With that money I was able to pay my co-pay and get the medications I needed.
That note was a reminder to that we are God to each other. We are God’s hands and feet…God’s heart. That is something now that I make a point to remember each day. Who am I being God for? Am I being God to someone? SHOULD I be God to someone?
In other news…
The new website is up…I LOVE it. Meg did such a wonderful job. So many people are reading through the song lyrics and getting in touch. I’m also hearing a lot about the photo galleries…the baby pictures…family pictures…and pictures of me WITH hair!
I’m excited to be settling into a (ANOTHER!) new job. I’m now working as the house manager for Congressional lobbyist, Liz Robbins. Liz is energetic woman who started the first woman-run lobbying firm in D.C. 29 years ago. She lobbies on behalf of many different causes (like publishing, education, artists’ rights, cities, etc.) and splits time between her Upper West Side apartment here in New York (and home out in East Hampton) and D.C. where she has an office. Half the week she’s here in NYC and the other half (when Congress is in session), she’s in D.C. She’s married to former New Yorker TV anchor, Doug Johnson and they have a fun ten year old daughter, Robin (I was quickly brought up to speed on the boy at school she has a crush on. He’s a vegetarian – so, of course, there has been a menu changes for Robin as she discovers her inner vegetarian.).
I really value this job on many levels because, in a position like this, I’m being entrusted with someone’s dearest possessions: their home and family. I oversee her home life and the needs here. I’ll manage her personal calendar and how it fits in with her professional calendar, schedule the maid, coordinate details for the family’s upcoming move to a new apartment on the Upper East Side, organize her gifts and donations (a much BIGGER job that it sounds when you think about the people and contacts she maintains), etc. I will also be working with her daughter after school on homework, different school projects, etc. The job is filled with challenges but and I’m enjoying tackling them thirty at a time.
Because of the demands and needs of managing Liz’s home, I’ve been able to give notice at the GAP and will soon, have just one job. That will be a first for me. I’ve always had several jobs going and juggled shows in between. That was always my life…I like of simple days ahead.
Speaking of shows…I hope to have something to share on that end as well! Not a Broadway show or anything like that…but…well…I don’t want to jinx anything. I’ll have to wait until more details are nailed down.
I’m flying back to Atlanta this coming weekend to take care of selling my car. Unfortunately, Shiloh (the name of my car – it means “House of Peace”), didn’t find an owner and I’m taking a real financial hit – but in the long run it will work out a little better. I love my little car he was one of the reasons my finances here got so tight. When planning out my move to NYC I didn’t anticipate still making a car and insurance payment 4 months after being here. With the cost of living here…Shiloh just isn’t in the budget.
One of my best friends (and former Atlanta roommate), Ken has been babysitting the car for me and showing it to prospective buyers. He got an appraisal from the dealership I purchased it at and I will be flying back to make the final arrangements. It will be a quick trip home and I hate that I won’t be able to make the rounds and see everyone. I hope to make another trip back to Atlanta some time soon when I will have more time.
This scratches the surface of the last month or so…
In the days ahead I may look back and throw in some other things here at there that have happened, but mainly it was a month of me trying to rest and get better.
Now that I am feeling better, I’ll be writing more. It is such an exciting city to be living in…and I enjoy sharing it.
