Share your good news

[11sstephanie]

Wow, great news everyone--been off for several weeks and just catching up. I see everyone has congratulated everyone for their good news already (though I just have to add a belated YAY! to Gut on the cancer results, and that I think the vows with your daughter's new stepchild were a fantastic idea, Unk), except 11SSteph, so I'll do that--we know how much you've missed him. Hope his new experiences don't make it hard to communicate as easily as you used to---and that he has privacy to talk!

Aww, thanks.

I actually think that he is a totally different person now, and I wonder if we can can still be as close as we were, but I refuse to say for certain until I get to spend some time with him, actually talking face-to-face. I think he's just in shock, you have to understand, he comes from a loving family with a huge house and just about everything he wanted, and now he...doesn't have all that.

Even if he is different, I'm not backing down. I can't. Every other person is all "OHMYGOD CRAIG YOU DIDN'T WRITE TO ME ALL SUMMER HOW COULD YOU DO THAT YOU SUCK I THOUGHT YOU WERE A GOOD FRIEND I WAS WRONG," and I'm reading all that and thinking to myself "Oh that's low. As if he isn't going through enough...."

But yeah. It's just nice to know that he's all right, and still as excited as the day he told me he was accepted.


(Craig!)

[Gutmutter]

You're a good friend, steph. Looks like he could use some sunscreen. Are you allowed to send care packages?

[11sstephanie]

I'm looking at the picture, and I'm thinking positive that's his normal complexion...his motto is something about pain....

I don't actually know if we're allowed to send care packages...I'll have to ask.

[PWS]

Maybe he's just REALLY hot... it is summer after all, and it looks like he's doing something physical.... Kinda cute though, from what you can see!

[MRD]

I had a great, great interview at the museum yesterday. First off the museum is AWESOME! It's state of the art, hands on, interactive instead of a bunch of historical artifacts in cases. They have some really interesting things that is going to make the whole experience for visitors really wonderful. Each section is in a faux building and there is a mannequin that talks at each section. In the early settler section, they have a cabin and the door is a rear projection screen and its a woman who talks about her experiences as a settler. She ages so you get a perspective on her life as a young, middle aged and old woman.
There is a civil rights section with video of some of the people that were involved in the civil rights movement talking about their experiences and how many times they got arrested for sitting at the Woolworth's lunch counter in protest of the white's only policy.
Very powerful stuff.
Each section has hands on demonstrations or touch screens or videos or interactive maps, etc. It is the only museum of its kind currently in SC.

So, I talked with 3 women. The Collections coordinator, the outreach educationj co-ordinator and the tour and staff coordinator. The historian was not available again and they kept saying I needed to meet her.
All 3 were so positive and I felt that they were very interested. At one point we were talking general history of the area (remember I've only lived here a year) and one turned to the other and said: "We have GOT to get her on staff here!".

At this point I have committed to volunteering during the grand opening weekend and helping with the oral history project. But all 3 did say that while I may be a volunteer now, that I had been the "most entertaining, most knowledgeable and most outgoing" person they had interviewed and would definetly like to have me as part of their team. So that made me feel good. Oh and they also asked me how I felt about lecturing.
I would LOVE to give a lecture so that was exciting too.
Oh and as we talked about the oral history project, they mentioned some problems with finding WWII vets to get their oral history. I said: Well why don't you send someone to the VA hospital? I said that when I had been there with my husband that its full of veterans, most of them old that have no one to talk too or their families are tired of these stories and they are eager and willing to tell someone. They acted like I had just invented sliced bread and a flurry of note taking ensued.

Anyway, whether I get hired and payed or just volunteer, I have a place and its looking that that place may involve a paycheck. Whether it does or not, its going to be invaluable to me as I continue with my history degree as it will give me some great experience on a resume.
But it went so well, that I told my husband that I felt that I would be hearing from them about a paid staff position in the near future.

I'm just really excited about it. This is a fantastic museum and I am happy to be a part of it in any way possible.

[remote_goddess]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! That is wonderful news, and so very exciting! I am glad the interview went well and that you made such a great impression. Good luck with the opening and best luck of all on getting the paid position! We're in your corner, cheering you on!

[MRD]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! That is wonderful news, and so very exciting! I am glad the interview went well and that you made such a great impression. Good luck with the opening and best luck of all on getting the paid position! We're in your corner, cheering you on!

You know, it makes me want to go back to all my old teachers who wrote notes home to my mother that I talked too much in class and tell them that what was once my worst problem appears to now be my best asset.

[ScoutMom]

This is wonderful news, MRD. I'm so glad it's working out for you, and you've found something that you really like to do. Sounds like you'll be collecting a paycheck in the near future! Best of luck to you.

[canuckinchile]

Good luck MRD, that sounds like it is right up your alley. It's nice to do something that you really enjoy. Hopefully, you can sort out your health problems, or get a flexible work schedule, so that you don't overdo.

[MRD]

Good luck MRD, that sounds like it is right up your alley. It's nice to do something that you really enjoy. Hopefully, you can sort out your health problems, or get a flexible work schedule, so that you don't overdo.

That has been my only real worry and I feel torn between coming clean with the museum about my health or just winging it and seeing how it goes.
I have come to the conclusion that I can't sit around doing nothing and that if I give in to all these problems, that its just not, well, healthy. So maybe having a job will actually be beneficial to me and keep my mind off some of these problems. But I can't sit around and wait on the doctors anymore to start my life over. At this point, I've been waiting almost 4 years and I'm tired of it. And I know a lot of people with disabilities, handicaps and illnesses that still manage to work and have productive lives, so there's no reason why I shouldn't either. Or at least give it my best try.
And you know what? After that interview yesterday, I felt better than I have in ages. So maybe having something to do will be more beneficial than sitting around doing nothing and worrying while several doctors who seem to have no clue try to figure out what's going on. At this point, I could be waiting forever.
I had to quit my last job due to the health problems so I am kind of worried about them. But again maybe working somewhere fun and exciting will be more helpful to me than anything else.

Thanks everyone for the good wishes. I am very excited about the possibilities and doing something in a field in which I am highly interested in, would be a dream job for me.