Taking A Moment

Tonight is a stormy, loud, uneventful night. But these are my favorite kinds of nights, where I can lay back, read a book, and enjoy the sounds of rolling thunder.
Tonight's thoughts are all over the place, but mostly they've been veering in the direction of how I got to where I am at, and how much I have to be thankful for.
For instance, take my parents. I've done more than my fair share of complaining about them, but let's be real; what kid doesn't complain about their parents?
But for real, they've taught me so much. Over the years, it hasn't always been easy, that's for sure. But it never is between parents and kids. There's always some form of a power struggle, where the kid thinks they're the parent, and the parent knows better. And believe me, we had plenty of that for a lifetime.
And growing up with my mom was the hardest thing to do, because we are the same human being in far too many ways. We are both stubborn as all hell, and not very nice when we're mad. We say mean MEAN things to each other, and that's never, ever a good thing. And sure, sometimes she was harder on me than I would have liked. Well, let's be honest here, she was harder on me than I ever would have liked.
But I needed it.
Because she's the only person I've ever met that can be so straightforward and just tell you "how it is," whether it's what you want to hear or not. And now I'm the same way. And sometimes the truth hurts, but most of those times, it needs to be heard. And it just so happens that those were all of the times that my mom was the only person that would tell me what I needed to hear. And I can appreciate that.
She was also the only person on this planet to teach me more about myself than I ever could have.

When my parents decided to have me move out after I graduated high school, I didn't recognize what kind of opportunity they were giving me. In fact, I really didn't come to realize what kind of opportunity it truly was until recent months.
Making me learn how to take care of myself for the most part (let's not steal any credit form my Grandma who so lovingly let me invade her home) made me learn a few things:

1. I am not helpless. I can figure things out on my own, or with minimal help. I've learned how to budget around the most pathetic of incomes, how to read a health insurance EOB, how to deal with student loans, and generally, how to rely on myself.
2. No one can afford to have too much pride. Sometimes, as much as it may kill you, you have to ask for help. And once you ask for that help, you have to be willing to accept it, big or small. Whether it is someone offering you a roof over your head, or a helping hand with filling your tank, or simply buying you a Dollar Menu McChicken... sometimes, you can't do it all without a little help. Are you going to feel embarrassed? Multiple times, most likely. Are you going to hate every second of knowing that you couldn't do it all on your own? Oh, you bet your ass you will. But the people that love you, the ones that are going to be there through thick and through thin, the ones that have been there this whole time? They are the ones that will help. They are the ones you can always rely on, and never feel like you ever owe them anything more than the world's most genuine "thank you" and your friendship.
3. No one can afford to be too humble. This isn't to say that I want everyone to shout every single accomplishment they've ever made from the mountaintops. This is to say, however, don't discount your accomplishments. Big or small, they are your own victories. For some people, the hardest thing to do is to wake up and roll out of bed. For others, it's standing up to their boss, their parents, their friends. And still, for others, it is being able to afford a little treat for themselves every now and then (can you say $0.01 Jodi Picoult books with $3.99 shipping in "like new" condition?? Whoot whoot!).
4. The best feelings come from hard work. And usually, that hard work is the worst, most hellish, miserable work you've ever had to do. For me that was working dead-end part time fast food and retail jobs that barely paid the bills, struggling with money constantly, and always having to turn down plans with friends because I could never afford to go out. And while, I have to admit, I never would have gotten this job had one of my dad's friends told him about the opening, and sent in my resume to my current boss, he was not the deciding factor for me to get this job. I was. I was the one who interviewed, said all the right things, had the right attitude, and had the right resume. And I cannot explain to you how incredible that feels, knowing that I was able to beat out a number of other people that were probably older (after all I am definitely the youngest in the office), more qualified, and more experienced than I am. To be able to say "I did it. I made it through the nine levels of retail hell, then crawled up through the dirt that is fast food. And now I have the job that all of my friends envy," is the absolute best feeling in the world.To finally be able to have my hard work recognized, appreciated, and even praised...that's huge. When you work hard, you get rewarded. Sure it might take 2, 5, 10, 50 years...but in the end, knowing that you did it on your own will make it that much more worth it.
5. Don't take your friends for granted. When good times are present, everyone is ready to hang out, have fun, and enjoy all of the good things in life. But when times get rough, who is there for you? Those are the people that you need to tell things like, "I love you," "You're awesome," and "I don't know what I'd do without you." Because they're the ones that deserve it. And who are you to them? Which friend set are you a part of? Are you the first group (the ones that we all call "friends of convenience")? Or are you the second group (the ones we all call "friends")? If you fall into the "friends of convenience" category, you may need to re-evaluate what you are doing.

So yeah, sometimes your parents might be hard on you, or you might be hard on your kids. But good parents never do anything that they don't think will benefit their kids in the long run. It may not always be the right thing, it may not always work, and it may not always be the easiest thing. But it is never something that comes from a bad place. It is never something malicious, it is never something cruel, it is never something evil. 

A parent's job is to want to see their child succeed, and to do everything in their power to teach that child how to succeed.

It is not to coddle. It is not to give their kids all the answers. It is not making life easy.

It is watching their child struggle so that they can feel a sense of pride when they finally get the answer correct. 

It is watching their child make mistakes so that they can learn from them and change those mistakes into experience. 

It is watching their child smile, laugh, dance, wail, whine, and... you guessed it....cry.

It is teaching them valuable life lessons. 

It is teaching them a sense of pride. 

It is teaching them to be a respectable adult.

A parent's job is to raise their children to be valuable contributors to society. And it is their job to do this in any way that they see fit. It is not their job to criticize other parents.

So to those of you out there that harshly judge my parents...stop. Because they've raised someone that I believe to be a admirable young woman among her friends. One that they call Superwoman on occasion (which makes me laugh every time because I know I'm not that good). One that they call call to for help, one that can recognize her faults, and celebrate her victories. 

And most importantly, one that can be proud of herself.

So I think that they did a pretty damn good job.

The Perks of Being a Newbie

This just goes to show that if you don't like your situation, YOU have the power to change it. You just have to keep believing that things will get better.

Today, I started my new job! I am now a Customer Service Rep at a company owned by Ebates, full time.
Not only does this new position come as a change of pace, but it comes with so many perks, it's almost unbelievable.
Pay raise: Almost a $3/hour pay raise! Which is huge all by itself, but then you add in the next perk, and it gets infinitely better.
Set hours: Guaranteed hours at the same time every week. The weekends to myself. And it's second shift, so I have the entire day to myself too. This combined with the pay raise means that I can actually start saving, paying off my student loans, and stop worrying about my bank balances all at once. Which is huge for me, for so many reasons. I can pay to have things done to my car finally, like the new tires I need, and the carbon filter that needs cleaned.
Food: I can also save on food! The office caters in lunch/dinner everyday, and has a full kitchen plus snack stations throughout the building. There is so much food, I won't have to ever worry about missing a meal because I had to work. Everything is free, including drinks ranging anywhere from hot cocoa to water to the after-work beer. There's also a full salad bar every day to accompany the company bought lunch.
Gym: That's right. A gym. At the office. For free with 24/7 access. I can go have a good day at work, and then have a good workout before I leave the office.
Dress Code: What dress code? Anyone with any common sense and self respect can go in there in their day-to-day clothes. Jeans. Sandals. Shorts. TeeShirts. Whatever. As long as you look presentable to the general public (if you'd feel comfortable going into Target) you are perfectly fine for work.
Game Rooms: Yep. We have game rooms. Arcade games, Foosball, ping-pong, board games, everything.
Break Rooms: They have one with massage chairs, one entirely made of bean bag chairs, and the lunch room is huge. There's a long buffet table surrounded by all of the dining tables, and it's connected to one of the game rooms.

The office is right on the river in a downtown area, near all of these cute little local shops and eateries. Today there was a bike marathon , which was cool to watch during the last half hour of our day. Speaking of which, the last half hour of the day was pretty neat. They threw a "beer party" (which I couldn't even drink at!) to celebrate my first day. Everyone took a few minutes to come to the lounging area, have a beer, watch the bike race, and introduce themselves before finishing up their shift or lunch hour.
Overall, this seems like a great place to work, and I am super pumped to stay. They even gave me a goodie basket with 6 different types of candy, a TeeShirt, a tumbler cup, and a whole lot of bright crinkly paper fluff.

So here is to new beginnings, because pretty much everyone needs one some day or another.

I hope your summer is going just as well!