Some things, mes amis, were meant to be. Some things are the result of such a long string of seemingly coincidental events that the only logical explanation for their existence is simply that they had to happen. I consider my relationship with Jeff to be one of these things. If I hadn’t moved back to Ohio having failed grandly at starting a music career in Austin, if he hadn’t made a rom/com style decision to drop his life and move across the country to be with the woman he loved (who, in a very un-rom/com turn did not reciprocate, leaving him single in a strange land), if I hadn’t seen something special in his photography portfolio (and then heard something special in his phone voice), if he hadn’t moved a trip to London in order to be at the intern interview, if I hadn’t begged my photographer to take on one extra intern (namely Jeff), if said photographer hadn’t got in a fist fight with his girlfriend at our “End of the Internship” party leaving Jeff and I to handle the fallout…. well, if any of those things hadn’t happened, I’d be in a very different place right now and I’d be there without the man I plan to spend the rest of my life with.

Similarly, if I hadn’t quit my job managing the restaurant, taken a month’s vacation to D.C., met Jeff’s cousin who introduced me to a certain yoga and athletic clothing company, run straight to the computer when I returned home to see if said company might be hiring anywhere nearby, found they had a position available right in my own little town, applied right away, gone to the store to introduce myself and spoken to the manager (who had not seen my application, and wouldn’t have because she’d already planned her interviews), been invited to come to the interview that night, and got a raving review from Jeff’s aforementioned cousin when the company called her for a referance…. well, I can safely say I would not be employed today.

As I sat across from my future boss during my second interview, terribly distracted by the Nicolas Cage doppelganger seated a few tables down (WTF?), I couldn’t help but think there was something inherently right about me being there. Now that the job’s mine, I’ve got my foot in the door doing something I’m good at, something that uses both the skills I have and the talents I’m passionate about (yes, the camera will be getting some use!).  I’m going to go all Goldilocks on you here and say: This job is just right.

This is not to say I’m out of the forest just yet (the job is only part time thus far). But, as I don’t believe in deforestation, I’m going to patiently hack my way out of it.

(….Although I’d rather straight burn this emmer effer to the ground!)