“Now I wanna know
Am I sure that I have your love?
I wanna know
If you’re leaving, just make sure it’s right.”
- Jeff Buckley, “I Want Someone Badly”
My best friend got married in August. Besides starting work, that was the most important thing to happen. I’m always happy to see friends get married, but the experience is so much more special when you love both people and know they’re meant for each other. In this case, I lived with the bride for two and a half years and was there from the very beginning of the relationship. They are my second most favorite married couple, right behind my own parents. And their wedding was beautiful and perfect and allowed me to look fabulous when seeing my ex-boyfriend again for the first time in months. I moved back to Jackson the following week and started work. I spent two weeks training for a job I basically had for four years, but I did learn new things, and I made a good friend.
Travel season started in September. I spent the first two weeks doing college fairs in Alabama, which was so much fun. The other admissions counselors were lovely. On my way to doing a high school visit, I got a phone call from my boss, who asked me to do six weeks of private school visits. I was beyond flattered and spent the next few weeks on the road. I started in Atlanta before hitting Macon and Savannah, then Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Tallahassee.
I went back to Alabama in October. This time, I went to Mobile, Montgomery, and Birmingham before hitting Huntsville and Florence again. I made a marathon drive to St. Petersburg on Saturday for a private school fair. I drove twelve hours, slept for a few, did a two hour fair, and drove nine hours to Chattanooga before getting back on the road. I visited the other Jackson — the state capital of Mississippi — for a few days before visiting Huntsville again. I got a few days in Indianapolis with my family before heading to Kentucky — two days in Louisville, one day in Newport, one day in Lexington — and then southeastern Georgia the next week. I got my very first flat tire and got hit on by another waiter. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s twice in one year.
Travel season solidified my love for my job. As corny as it sounds, I do feel blessed to have a job I love. It’s really rewarding knowing that some of the students I talk to will enroll at my school and love it as much as I do. It’s rewarding knowing that kids who have never heard of my school are considering coming there. It’s rewarding knowing that my work is going to help change my university and impact the lives of these students and their families. When I graduated college, I knew I wanted to work somewhere I could make a difference. I was so ready to move to Memphis and take a job somewhere (almost anywhere by the time July came around) that I started to lose sight of how I always thought PR could change the world. And I know I’m not changing the entire world, but I’m changing the biggest part of my world. I made good on that promise.
PS: In exciting, more up-to-date news, I’m no longer a temp. Happy early birthday!
