Guard Your Garden

The goal for this week has been to get a job. On days off I can look something akin to a koala bear. Some people can look at me from one hour to the next and the question constantly burning in their brains is, "Man she's so cute--has she moved? At all?" The two main ports in my storm are usually the bathroom and the fridge.

So it is often a surprise to some--least of all me--how motivated I can be when it comes to finding a job. Yesterday I wrote so many cover letters that I was starting to feel like I was talking about someone else. Like I was my own secretary or something. It was weird.

Today, Mom and I ran around Lyndonville and St. Johnsbury to drop of more resumes and apply for more jobs. It was pretty fun. I have one interview for Thursday at an adult care facility. There are 4 disabled women who need a lot of personal care. I'm not sure it's for me but I'm really excited for the interview anyway. I mean maybe once i get there and talk to the supervisor it will sound less intimidating but right now I have hard time picturing myself there. One of the women is manic depressive and pinches. Pinches! And you have to keep her away from the really frail woman. I just keep picturing myself getting pinched and yelping and saying things like, "Hey! That is not nice!" and the woman just shrugging like, "whatever. no big whoop." So, we'll see. I also applied at a daycare, a newspaper (sports writer), a hospital dietary aide, a grocery store, JCPenny's, a crisis counselor, and I'm two sips of Perrier away from applying to Buck's Furniture Barn.

Mom looked a little like a country music singer today. She had on red boot/shoes, snazzy jeans, a cute top and a denim jacket (almost enough denim to be a Canadian tuxedo). She looked good though. She had a silvery scarf under a cute beige pageboy hat. Last week both Dad and Mom buzzed their heads. Mom's was just starting to come out. Shaughn said they looked like sweet Buddhists. And they did. Yesterday Mom's head was looking a little dry so I offered to put a little lotion on her head and when I was done my hand was covered in hair. Today Mom's head looks a little like a cat-tail that has been rubbed bald in some spots.

She was so sweet to take me around to all the places I need to drop resumes and fill out applications. The first stop we made was to say hello to Dad at his work. On our way out Mom said my name in such a way I thought she might have forgotten something. I turned around and by the garbage bins was a dirt pile and at the bottom of the dirt pile was a flowering columbine. As soon as I saw her looking at it I knew she wanted it. We looked at each other and without nary a hesitation she said, "I'm going to take it." And she did. She went to Dad's pickup and found a window snow scraper and scooped the plant out of the earth. She carefully wrapped it in some paper towels and put it in her beach bag in the back of her car, not once looking back. A man even walked by and she just looked at him evenly as if it wasn't at all odd she was walking around with a plant sticking out of her bag.

I come from feisty stock, I'll tell you what.

Later after we had bought things like bagels and Perrier Mom noticed a helped wanted sign in the grocery store. So I stayed in the store to fill out an application while Mom went and sat in the car. When I got back to the car she had called the owner of Dad's work building and okay-ed her thievery. "In fact, Mis, she told me I could help myself to whatever I wanted." So a tale of caution my friends.





PS I really want the grocery store job. I really like to pack things--like tetras.