taken just a few days ago - my flowers are still lovely, even through frost! a little blessing.

today was tough. i got up, ready to go, with all my ducks in a row. i arrived on time to my new job, only to find that "training" meant sitting in an office chair behind the receptionist, watching her every move for eight hours, minus a half-hour lunch. i can't think of a time when my life was more boring. i actually had to break out the silly putty to keep myself busy. i made a small, delicate paper snowflake, folded a paper crane, and doodled on my notepad. i took a walk around the building, introducing myself and collecting the business cards of the people that work there so that I can begin to learn their names. i learned how to use the mail meter machine, how to input data for new listings, and what it means to be "on the floor." i also think i've just about mastered how to use the complex phone system.

all this might have been okay, if only it was at the office in which i'll be working on a daily basis. tomorrow, i look forward to the entire process again at a different location. i'm praying for the joy and the strength i need to be a friendly person, to be willing to learn, quick to listen, and slow to speak, as well as slow to anger. i'm having second thoughts about this, and i'm not sure how i'm going to feel about it tomorrow, but i hope for a better experience. it's not that people were mean, or demeaning, or impatient, but i was simply bored out of my mind.

today's blessings. i am safe and warm, i have six red roses on my table, i am loved, the air is crisp and cold and smells of winter, i have a mode of transportation, and i'm finally home. oh, and i have a job. for better, i hope, and not for worse.