A coffee analogy

So this morning I'm sitting at the computer desperately gulping down my cup of Jewel brand coffee with some flavored creamer in it, hoping the caffeine kicks in so I can play Polly Pockets and Star Wars without falling asleep. And my husband points out that there is an article in the Seattle Times online about the newly working Light Rail and all its' stations. I finally got a chance to see the station I worked on after so many years!

In 2003 I worked with a small group of people to produce the design and construction set for the Tukwila Station (has a lot of different names). My husband freelance'd and did the 3D renderings for us, and it was so much fun to see the building looking so complete! It would have been even more fun to see it in person, but such is life. I have to settle for computer images.

I was hit with an emotional punch because I missed Seattle, missed that group, missed that firm, and missed working on something so architecturally significant. It was a neat project, and an amazing year as I was baking Logan all the way til the last drawings and when I returned from maternity leave, we wrapped up loose ends. With that office, I ended up quitting to stay home with Logan. Which I would never in a million years change, as that was so necessary with him, his personality, and my emotional state.

It made me think of an analogy about coffee. When I was in grad school, I would get a delicious Americano from Tully's. Seattle's Best or Starbucks (all at one corner!) each day I worked downtown. And on days I was at school, I could get a "mocha" for 50 cents from the school cafe. As I started working more, I drank more good coffee. Then as I moved here and had two kids, getting a good coffee was my special treat at a mall or out shopping.

Last summer I worked in Oak Park (urban and suburban) and got a cup of thick, rich Intelligencia coffee in some form most mornings I worked. So yummy. And so required as Sylvie has still not mastered the art of always sleeping through the night. Then I was unemployed and when I started this new job there was free coffee. From a machine. As in, stick the coffee grounds in, press a button and enjoy some caffeine in a styrofoam cup. At first, well, it was the "hey I'm employed, I guess this is a perk- free coffee and all the little non-refrigerated creamers one can handle."

And 9 months into the job, it's not a great job, but it's not terrible either. It's kind of like the coffee- it is in my field, fulfills some of the yearning I have to do things like drafting and learning and completing projects. The coffee is not great but it works. Then you taste something good and you remember what you used to have, and it hits you like a ton of bricks.

Better brush up that resume, 'cause when this "Great Recession" lifts, you are not going to be able to hold me back.