Back on Track

In my efforts to lose some weight and get back into shape, I've started using weightwatchers.com. Again. Actually, to be honest with you, I hadn't stopped paying for it! Oops! Oh well... Anyway, I was able to reset my starting weight and day, and now I'm back on track! It feels good to know that I've done something to take control of that part of my life.

My goal is to lose fifteen pounds by my cousin Emilee's wedding, which is September 20th. It sounds like it's so far away-- I mean, it's still July! But actually, it's only eight weeks away! That averages out to about two pounds a week, which is a perfectly healthy and reasonable goal.

Yesterday I went for a walk for the first time in ages! I've been so lazy in my unemployment. It's easy to get that way... But no more! This is me, back on track. I've been derailed long enough.

Balloon in Tree

The picture I posted above is an image I came across yesterday while driving up Northeast Blvd. I find the image compelling. Perhaps I feel like that balloon: Leftover from a party, trying to make my way into the world, but somehow being held back.

I wonder if it's still there.

Employment Possibilities

Yesterday was a big day for me-- I had my second interview for the Grants Specialist position that I am being considered for. And it wasn't just one interview, but two, in two different buildings with three different people! I think that the interviews went well, but at this point it's out of my hands. I have done my best, the rest is up to God.

The other day I also dropped off my application to Talbot's. I began working at Talbot's when I was only sixteen years old! I was the top salesperson in my store, and continued working for the company until I was twenty-one. Talbot's was a good company to work for, and I hope to hear from them soon.

It feels good to know I'm taking strides to try and get a job, get an income, so that I can start chipping away at my debt.

A Suitcase Feminist

I didn't consider myself to be a feminist until I traveled to the Middle East for the first time in December of 2004. It was not an image of gross injustice that propelled me into feminism-- I didn't witness a woman stoned to death for adultery or a ten year old girl forced to marry a fifty year old man. In fact it was a small image-- the size of a carry-on suitcase to be exact-- that impacted my life so profoundly.

I was traveling to Bahrain to visit my brother, who worked as a defense contractor for the Army there. The flight itself was long and rather uneventful. It wasn't until the plane touched down in Bahrain and the passangers began gathering their things that I saw anything noteworthy. Just a few rows ahead of me, I watched a man take down his suitcase from the overhead compartment, put it in the aisle, then turn around and walk briskly away. It was his wife-- who had been sitting in the seat behind him-- who had to carry the suitcase. I continued to watch them as we walked through the gates toward the baggage claim area. The wife followed her husband as he walked and laughed with another man; all the while, she dragged the suitcase along, keeping a good ten feet behind him.

I was outraged by this! How could he ignore her like that? How could he leave the suitcase for her to carry, when he was clearly stronger? I reported the incident to my brother later that evening, and I'll never forget his response: "She's lucky he even took the suitcase down for her."

That was a defining moment in my life: a moment in which I was confronted with the inequality that so many women from all different cultures face. I had grown up in a liberal part of the world with a father who treated my mother and I with the utmost respect, yet here were women who were not even allowed to walk next to their husbands in public.

Over the next few years, as I got older and met more people from different parts of our country, I realized that there was a similar oppression happening right here in the United States. One young woman I met told me of how her father-- a former Southern Baptist minister-- beat her after she told him she had been sexually molested. While that was over a decade ago now, her father still works to make the only woman left in his control (his wife) subservient. He rigorously manages the household finances, giving his wife an "allowance" that makes buying anything for herself almost impossible.

What really gets me about both of these stories is that the men were acting in accordance with their interpretations of a holy book. In their sick minds, they believed that their religions justified their disgusting behavoir.

Today, I came across a link to an article recently written by Jimmy Carter. This article states, in plain language, that it is never OK to oppress women based on religion or tradition. But we still have a long flight ahead and many suitcases to carry before we acheive the equality Carter advocates. I urge you all to read this article, to share it with your friends, and to embrace in your everyday lives the spirit of freedom for all that it embodies.

http://www.theelders.org/media/news/words-god-do-not-justify-cruelty-women

The Other Side of the Ocean, explained

I named my blog after my favorite story in my thesis. In this story, the main character is looking out over the Atlantic from a beach on Cape Cod and finds hope in knowing that, even though she can't see land (Portugal) on the horizon, she knows it's out there.

For me, this story is a testament to my faith that God will carry me through these difficult times. I trust that, despite my recent breakup and this time of transition and uncertainty, there is something else out there for me, on the other side of the ocean.

Plot Outline

During my twenty-ninth year I hope to:

1. Get back into the amazing shape I was in five years ago

2. Find a job that will propel me into a career as a grant writer (I have a second interview on Wednesday!)

3. Pay off my credit card debt

4. Get my apartment permanently out of CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome)

5. And get into some trouble along the way...

This blog was created to document those pursuits. Stop by anytime to check in on my progress!

A New Chapter

As many of you know, there have been many huge changes in my life over this past year-- and though I believe good things will eventually come of those changes, they have been traumatic and difficult.

Last September my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a partial mastectomy in November, underwent radiation treatment, and will be on hormone therapy treatment for another four years. The good news, however, is that she is now cancer free!

But it was my mother's diagnosis that made me realize that there were things in my life I wanted that I wasn't willing to wait for any longer. At that time, I had been with my boyfriend for seven years, and finally had to face the truth that he and I wanted different things from life: I wanted to get married and start a family, he didn't. Our relationship ended five months after my mother's diagnosis.

On top of all this, I had knee injury in February, and have been unemployed for two months!

It's been a very difficult year. There is, however, a but: on August 1st I will turn twenty-nine. This birthday marks an opporunity to start fresh-- I'm ready for new and positive things to come into my life and believe that they will. Twenty-nine is going to be my best year yet!