Where I was in 1994

Well, Susan and SoNotMartha wanted to know where I was and what I was doing in 1994. After reading SNM's post, I was confused and then she realized that she had actually written of 1993 (silly girl, do it again!)

Well, in August of 1994, my husband and I had almost been married for a year and we still hadn't had a fight. The reason we never fought was that we had SEPERATE BANK ACCOUNTS!!!!!!

The Chemist and I had been in Ellicott City, Maryland (near Baltimore) for about two months. He had accepted a chemist position with WR Grace. We lived in the richest county in Maryland and we were DEFINITELY bringing down the average! We lived in a dumpy apartment complex, but we didn't care. While we missed the friends we had in St. Louis, we were glad to be gone.

ATTENTION TO ANY CURRENT OR FORMER ST. LOUIS RESIDENT WHO MAY BE READING THIS:St. Louis is a lovely town ( I even went back when SNM got married)--I just wished I lived in the lovely part. I lived in a part of town that was very, uh, "White and Proud." What also didn't help the city's cause was that we witnessed a gang scuffle at the St. Louis Arch. Nothing like a couple of guns being waved around to make me want to leave and never come back. We had been there with my husband's parents and grandmother for Christ Sakes! They couldn't wait until we left?????

It had been a rough 18 months in St Louis for us, particularly me. While we were there, I had struggled to find a job in my field. As a matter of fact, there was only one publishing company in St. Louis at the time. I interviewed with them SIX TIMES for six different editorial assistant positions. I turned them down when they asked me to come a seventh time--I couldn't take the thought of being rejected yet again. My asthma was, at times, debilitating because of the climate and the huge floods that had occured while we were there. And my job? The particular Olive Garden that employed me was a petri dish of booze, cigarettes, gossip, hooking up and the white trashiest customers I had ever encountered (come to think of it, I am not sure that I ever waited on a minority). I started off at the restaurant an enthusiastic, fresh-faced country girl who had moved to the big city. I was excited to be there and LOVED everyone--customers included. After about a month, I was being pulled aside by the manager on duty because I was rolling my eyes and getting caught because of all of the mirrors in the restaurant.

"But Doug, that entire table just ordered plain spaghetti and a bottle of ketchup! You would have rolled your eyes too!"

It was a relief that the GM liked me and promoted me to the bar. Shlepping Old Fashions and Margaritas was a much better gig.

Anywhoo, back to Maryland. I really liked it. It was great living 45 minutes from Washington DC and 20 minutes from Baltimore. The weekends were filled with touristy activities and oppressive heat and I loved it. The weekdays were what was tough. I was interviewing like crazy for editing jobs in DC and Baltimore, but getting nowhere. I couldn't afford to take the jobs offered because they paid peanuts and wouldn't cover commuting expenses. I had been determined to not wait on another table when we moved there, but bills were coming up due.

After realizing one afternoon that I knew the plots of three soap operas running at the same time, I decided I'd better get a job. Any job. I poured through the classifieds and found an ad for a temporary agency that needed someone to do office work. That was how I ended up in a career in Human Resources. It is also how I ended up meeting one of my dearest friends Jen, who was my boss at that job.

So by the end of that summer, our life there was starting to take shape. I was even more excited because our good friends Laura and Frank were moving there too for their jobs. We referred them to the same shitty apartment complex we lived in and life was good (not sure if she ever forgave me for the apartment thing--they had VERY SMELLY NEIGHBORS!!!!!!)

So that was what was going on in my life at that time. OK, who's next?