And just like that, it’s been a month since I started work. The first days on the job were a blur of hot and humid weather, endless hours spent getting to know the history of everything that ever happened, good and bad, at work, plus various meetings, orientations, and HR-related chores. I spent pretty much the entire first month working on one project, which I’m just emerging from now. It was something that seemed important during the interview but didn’t seem like the only thing I’d be doing; once I got here, though, I began to realize just how important it was, and then poured everything I had into it. It’s now done, for the most part, and I think it will serve us well in the years to come, so now I can move on to more of the day to day work.
Once the humidity and heat calmed down at the end of July, we were able to explore a little more, and find out what a lovely place New Haven is. It’s funny, we keep telling the same stories to everyone we see – new colleagues, old friends, fellow parents at G’s school – but they’re true: I never would have considered New Haven as a place to live, thanks to both its less-than-stellar reputation and my Greenwich-colored memories of Connecticut, but now that we’re here, it seems kind of perfect. Maybe we’re prone to finding wherever we live “kind of perfect,” which makes us seem very adaptable and positive, but it seems true. It’s on the East Coast, not far from New York, Boston, and the Pioneer Valley (three of my favorite places); it’s a college town, but still a city, so it’s got art and culture and music and food, but also those city things you need like stores, libraries, banks, and so on; and though it’s a busy place, it operates at a slower pace, a lower level, than other places we’ve lived. It’s not Los Angeles. It’s not Boston. It’s also not Rochester, but it’s somewhere in between, and it runs at a speed that I think we’re ready for at this point.
We’re looking for a house; in fact, we’re looking at one in particular, and hoping it works out, which would be great. But for the time being, I have a thirty-second commute, I’m home to see the girls at lunch, and I’m enjoying the challenge of a new job. Aimee and the girls are exploring the various kid-friendly corners of the city and environs, and hanging out with friends, new and old. It seems like we have plans just about every weekend from here to December, no exaggeration, so I’m looking forward to settling down and being bored at some point. Until then, it’s New Haven pizza, Foxon Park soda, Ashley’s ice cream, pub trivia at Anna Liffey’s, family walks in the evening, hanging out in the basement play room in the apartment, and imagining what life will be like when we settle down and move in.
