Time to catch up some more...

Today, we'll be discussing my RELATIONSHIP drama that has occured over the past months...

In December of 2005, fate worked in mysterious ways and allowed me to become re-connected with an acquaintence that I had met randomly at UIUC. I did not remember him well, but he remembered me well enough to look me up and message me. Strange as that may seem, we started talking on a regular basis and really hit it off. Our first date was about as perfect as first dates get, and we never looked back...at least not for awhile.

You know how it feels when you first meet someone, and you just...GET each other? For instance, you have a similar set of interests, a similar outlook on life, and a similar vision of how the world should operate. Well, if you've ever been fortunate enough to meet someone and have this experience, you're one of the very lucky indeed. So many people go through life just going through the motions, and I find this very unfortunate. Everyone deserves to meet at least one person in their lives that just invigorates them, fills them up, and makes them feel alive like they've never felt before. This person just happened to do this for me. 3 hour conversations passed by in what seemed like seconds, and even though we talked and talked for what seemed like forever, we always kept coming back for more. And it was even better in the somewhat rare instances we got to see each other in person. We were only an hour apart, but an hour can seem like forever when one of the people in the relationship has a highly demanding and stressful job.

It was a wonderful experience...but this kind of perfect harmony cannot last forever. Or maybe it can...it just didn't in this instance. His job got stressful, things got tense, and it definitely caused some problems between us, I won't lie. However, it was around this time that he decided to start exploring the option of going to grad scool. By the end of the school year, he had been accepted by several different places and decided to go with UIS, thanks to their offer to him of a graduate assitantship.

The summer wasn't much fun, I'll be 100% honest. I was completely overwhelmed with working two jobs, in addition to hunting for a REAL job, which was hell on earth. I thank God every day (at least, almost every day) for the opportunity I have been blessed with at the present time. He was 1) stressed out with his job, and 2) nervous about becoming a full-time student again. Understandable causes of stress, most definitely. Somehow, both of us made it through the summer (still speaking, thankfully) and in Springfield in the fall.

After a month and a half of back-and-forth, trying to establish what we were to one another, we decided to give the relationship another shot, and for quite awhile, it was going extremely well. However, around January, things got, shall we say, a little too honest and the result wasn't pleasant, at least not on my end. Somehow, we managed to figure things out, but as soon as everything seemed "normal" again, I got a great opportunity with my job-the chance to move back to Southern Illinois until Election day and be in charge of field operations for some of the counties in SO-IL. It made me feel absolutely great that he was so, so, supportive of my career and this move, and vowed that he didn't want to lose me (despite the distance), but nonetheless, our relationship barely lasted two weeks before the distance got too tough for him. And everything else, I guess.

Sigh. And here I am today.

Things I have learned from this relationship:

1) Long-distance relationships only work if BOTH people are committed to making them work. Clearly, in this relationship, we only had 50% participation.
2) It is very, very difficult to remain friends with an ex, even if you parted under circumstances that are beyond your control, and sometimes, especially then, because you have to face the fact that you really would be great together, it's just timing or circumstances or one person's outlook on things that just SUCK and that's why it won't work. At least not now.
3) Some differences are difficult to overcome.
4) Never make someone your priority if you are merely their option.

Breaking up is hard to do. I'm currently in a serious relationship with...no suprise here, my job.

It's been a very long time since I've posted (7 months!). I'm going to try to do this on a regular basis like I used to, so allow me to catch things up...

JOB

First and foremost, my job hunt ended at the end of September when I was offered not one, but two jobs in the course of 72 hours. It seemed like a dream come true-after all, I'd been hunting since January, and I graduated in May, so it was about time. The first job was with the Illinois Department of Transportation. It would have been a fine opportunity, other than the fact I would have to live in mortal fear that they would A) realize I was a Republican, and B) fire me. Luckily, 48 hours after I was offered the position with IDOT, I received a call from the Illinois Republican Party, and they offered me a full-time position. Needless to say, I was thrilled. Everyone knows I've been interested in pursuing a career in campaign politics, and this was the perfect position to jump start my career.

I started the job on October 3rd. I'm very lucky that I immediately hit it off with my co-worker, Jayme. Before long, we had 2 interns join our office staff, and to sum it all up (after several months on the job), it's just been a wonderful experience. The entire staff is wonderful to work with and I can honestly say that I truly enjoy going to work every day, even now, after several months have passed.

Next on the agenda...RELATIONSHIP...but that will have to wait till tomorrow. My job is keeping me very, very busy nowadays!