Our anniversary got me thinking.** This month also marked my five year anniversary at work. That's half a decade at the same company - doing the same job. This is a big accomplishment for the girl that switched jobs every year or so through my mid-twenties. I had almost convinced myself that staying at one job longer than a year would literally kill me from boredom. Well, there have been some boring periods in my five year career, but all in all, it's been pretty great. I've weathered a few recessions, a couple of layoffs, and a change in CEO, and somehow I've come out doing better than I ever would have dreamed when I was growing up in a small town in Southwest Missouri.
Suddenly, I'm all choked up. Must be the sugar cookie I just inhaled. Little known fact - if you can eat the snack during a commercial break, the calories don't count. Let's take a look back at five years younger Mariah and see how she's grown (or shrunk, as the case may be).
I think this employee photo really says it all. It was taken on my first day as an official full-time employee in 2010. Look at that baby - all naive and full of dreams and a little sweaty from taking a campus tour. Side note - I wore that sweater exactly one time, for this photo. I think I still have the sweater which proves I am terrible at picking out clothes, and I'm a bit of a pack rat.
I had interned for the company the previous two summers, so I'd posed for several of these employee photos. My very first photo ended up on my official work badge when I started full-time. I won't show you that picture, as it's truly horrific. I'm not sure how it resurfaced when they made my badge, since the above photo was seconds old at the time, but if nothing else, it serves as a good reminder not to dye my hair that particular shade of black/brown ever again.
At the time this photo was taken, I was new to the city, living large in a two-bedroom apartment with an attached garage because I wanted to flex my big girl salary muscles. Just a few years later I would flex those muscles in a big way when I bought a house, literally on a whim one afternoon, but that's a story for another day.
I searched long and hard for a church, found one I loved, then abandoned it because they had no singles group. A few months later I would realize that having a church you love is more important than the opportunity to meet a boy, and I would return. Coincidentally, the church started up their singles program about three months after I rejoined. I've been a dedicated member of the group ever since, and I've made some amazing friends from it. Now the group is transitioning as more and more of us are in relationships. Transitions like this can be painful, but I've come to realize how necessary and important they are if you want to really have a full life.....and now I'm being sentimental again. My bad. To break the tension, here's a picture of an inflatable children's slide that nobody should rent for their child's birthday party.....ever.
.PNG)
And we're back. The girl in this photo ( I mean the first one, not the scary vagina slide picture) had a massive student loan from getting a law degree and MBA. I was still in that lovely six month grace period, but soon I'd have to pay the piper for all that late night pizza and fancy book learnin'. I owed $110,838.88. That sounds like a lot, but really.....well.....yeah, it's a lot. I had this crazy idea that I could pay it off super early by throwing all my extra money at it. All my friends thought I was nuts. After all, I'd still need to be saving for a house, take occasional vacations, and handle whatever other crisis came my way, but I was really committed to the plan. I'm delighted to report that I'll actually make my final loan payment at the end of March!!!!! That's nine months ahead of what I'd originally planned and about 30 years faster than the government requires.
The girl in the picture was also single but definitely didn't want to stay that way. My pitifully small dating history had led me to believe that no decent guy would ever be interested in me. That's a sad way to look at life, and it wasn't even remotely true. I'm not just saying that because now I'm with an extremely decent guy. I just understand men and women and relationships so much better now than I did five years ago. I've also quit tearing myself down as much as I used to, because it's a huge waste of energy, and it's hard to keep up with the lies you tell yourself. As much as I've been impatient to be in the next phase of my adult life, I'm so relieved I didn't meet someone great before I was really ready. That God fella sure seems to know what He's doing.
Finally, the girl in the picture wasn't healthy. I was overweight, killing myself slowly one brownie at a time. Before I started Weight Watchers, I would have told you I didn't eat that bad. That's another fine example of the lies I used to tell myself. I was like the alcoholic who says their drinking is no big deal because they only black out when they're at home. I've realized over the past year how out of control I really was regarding my overall health. I'm so much happier to have tamed that part of my life. That's not to say I don't still have an affinity for brownies and cookies and lasagna and the full range of the Little Debbie's brand and.....wait, what was I saying? Oh right, yup, it feels good to be in control.
So here's to the next five years! I'm uncharacteristically optimistic about all the new adventures on the horizon. But as they say.....
* Okay Milton, if you're reading this, please don't break up with me.
** By the way, I know how utterly ridiculous it is to celebrate a five month dating milestone as if it's some kind of legitimate anniversary.....or at least I did until I had one to celebrate. So all you haters can go on hating long after I've finished this post.
