YKWIM #90: The Good Life

First, thank you for the kind words and cups of coffee as I recovered from my ankle sprain. It’s doing much better and even my bum knee is getting there too. Bodies are so strange and fragile. I hope you’re taking care of yours in the ways you need to, even if no one else seems to understand. I get it. Do what you need to do. Second, I’m available for additional freelance work. This post best explains the kind of work I’m looking for (on top of audio work), but please feel free to email me with questions. Okay, on with the show.Some friends from school moved into an apartment together a couple weeks ago and they threw a housewarming party. They didn’t have a couch yet, so we sat around the living room on blankets spread out along the floor. Leaning against the windowsill, I had a strange sensation of déjà vu. I had done this before. Back in 2007, 2008, 2009, in Pittsburgh when my friends were moving into their own first apartments. And here I am doing it again.I’m the only one over 30 from the cohort who stayed in Portland. It’s not a bad thing. It just makes for funny-awkward moments, like when everyone was playing songs off YouTube from the early-2010s and I requested “Dilemma” because in my mind, it’s the same time period, but oh no, it’s too early two-thousands and no one knew it but me. There’s an eight year difference from 2002 to 2010 and those are eight important years. Whoops! The thing about being Lady-No Kids is that after a while, you have more friends from other generations and you may have to adjust your playlist accordingly. It’s not a bad thing. I have newfound empathy for my older friends after always being the younger friend. Not to get sappy, but my life has only gotten richer as more people have entered it. I’ve seen jokes online that no one over 30 wants new friends and I’m like wait what??? Like the worst reality show contestant, I’m here to make friends. And anxiety disorders aside, I don’t really understand the impulse to cut yourself off from making new friends. It’s a foreign language to me. But I guess there are people who would say the same about how I’m living my life right now. I talked to an old coworker friend last week for the first time in a long while. We had a good chat about where life has taken us over the past few years, which is in completely opposite directions. He moved his way up at the same company, bought a house, and lives there with his girlfriend. I left that job after a year or two, tried a bunch of other things, and everything I own with me in Maine can fit in my car. We each still have things to figure out about the future but I think we’re both on the right path, even if these paths are completely different and he’s definitely on the path that way more people in my life are taking. Again, this isn’t a bad thing! It’s not a bad thing. It’s not a bad thing? IT’S NOT A BAD THING. It’s not a bad thing, but it is something. I don’t know what it is. I joke that I’m in this second adolescence but I don’t think anyone’s laughing anymore. Everyone’s nodding and saying, yeah, you are. Maybe I am. Hope I’ve learned a few things and it’s not as awkward as the last. The truth is despite my dwindling savings and the anxiety of things beyond my control, I’m more excited for what’s to come than I have been in years and I have no regrets blowing it all up. 10/10, would do it again. The Good LifeWhen some people talk about moneyThey speak as if it were a mysterious loverWho went out to buy milk and neverCame back, and it makes me nostalgicFor the years I lived on coffee and bread,Hungry all the time, walking to work on paydayLike a woman journeying for waterFrom a village without a well, then livingOne or two nights like everyone elseOn roast chicken and red wine.— Tracy K. SmithThanks for reading my LiveJournal 2.0. Just as with the original LJ, this is all me, for better or worse, so please ignore the mistakes. The links to more of my nonsense can be found below if you want to check those out. A cup of coffee would be greatly appreciated as I keep on job searching and you can do that here or here. xoxox@andrealaurion | andrealaurion.com | @andrealaurion This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit andrealaurion.substack.com