Well, y'all - it took me forever to get around to telling my Kos family (and for that I hang my head in shame, but damn it's been busy) but I have an announcement to make:
I GOT THE JOB!
Yep. I started right after the holiday, and I've been to more coffee meetings and lunch meetings and introductory things and talks and fairs and seminars than I can even recount. I have a stack of cards bordering on 'towering' of people that I've met in the past 24 days, and I've taken to writing on them with a Sharpie, so I won't forget why they were interesting, or who needed a facility tour, or who knows someone who knows someone who has a cousin that wants to start their own business in something sustainability-related.
My goal here is multifaceted. I recruit entrepreneurs with a sustainability-related product or business plan or dream, I work to build sustainability understanding in the community, and I'm the public face of this hidden gem in our community and region. (If you'd like more information on my employer, or your ex-brother-in-law's cousin's girlfriend "has this idea she'd like to get off the ground," and your best friend's brother is a farm-to-fork chef who's looking for a job, kosmail me.)
I've moved from our 3b/2ba, 2 floor, 1920s farm house on 20+ acres, where my nearest neighbor was across a huge field of cattle into a 1b/1ba, third floor walk up in the middle of downtown. Within a 3 block radius, I have untold numbers of neighbors, a dozen restaurants, 9 bars, a college campus, a couple of coffee shops, a used book store, a yarn store, and the public library. I can walk to the train station and be at Wrigley in a couple of hours. I could do the same with St. Louis, but why would I want to? ;-)
People either can't understand me because of my accent or want me to repeat myself. Apparently, some think it's cute, while others find it wholly unintelligible. I've had two people tell me they can tell when I get comfortable in a situation, because the accent appears out of nowhere. "Until then," one said, "you sounded like you were from Iowa." I'm sure my grandma Ruby and my aunts Maudie, Mabel, and Eunice and their double-named husbands all rolled in their graves in unison. If there was an earthquake in Clarke County, Alabama, last night, it wasn't fracking.
I've been lurking the past few weeks, usually between collapsing into bed and passing out from exhaustion. I'll try to do better - but until I get my arms around all that's going on, it'll be a challenge. In the meantime, I wanted to send you all a collective thank you for your good mojo and your support during 'the search.'
With big hugs to my GulfWatching, Dkos family,
k