The Gypsy's Holy Sainthood

My friends (and especially my parents) will have a shiny gold star next to their names when they get to heaven. I'm sure everyone feels this way about their loved ones. I mean, we're all walking disaster areas. But my circle surely deserves it. I could prove this to you in a nearly 3 decade long autobiography, but I'll spare you the tedious details and just give you the highlights.

I change my mind constantly (and passionately.) Some people call this indecisive; I prefer to look at it more positively as exploration and the desire to learn. One in the same? Maybe. In college, I declared five majors. Musical Theatre (well, this wasn't so much declared as it was my intended major), Elementary Education, English, English/Secondary Education, and the degree I graduated with: Communication. Honestly, I didn't know what I wanted to do (obvious, right?) and I wasn't anywhere near ready to make the decision. So, I found a fun major and went with it.

But my mind-changing doesn't stop there. Since 2004, I have moved eight times, lived at six addresses, in three states, and gone back to my parents' house 3 times. And I loved every minute of it. Honestly, I would probably continue to move to new places if I had someone to do it with. It's just too exhausting to completely start over like that all the time.

Oh, and how about jobs. Non profit volunteer management/event planning/fundraising, Marketing/Event Planning/Sales for a small, local computer shop, a short trip back into non profit volunteer management/event planning/fundraising (this is a result of the nearly deadly "it couldn't have been as bad as I remember it." No, Spaz, it was that bad.) Sprinkled in there were part time experiments in retail clothing and bartending. And if you want to go all the way back, I have worked:

Filing at a doctor's office.
Bagging groceries, pushing carts, and putting people's unwanted food back at the Jewel.
Retail sales in a bath boutique.
Phones and check out for a carryout Italian restaurant.
Flower arranger/balloon inflater/water sprinkler/container gardener/sun-tanner at a garden center.
Park District day camp counselor.
Call center for alumni donations.
College basketball game ticket sales.
And football sales.
Summer camp counselor. Twice.
TV Producer. (7am local access sucks.)
The voice of the Hope College Admissions Office (Hope College Admissions. How may I help you?)
The occasional face of the Hope College Admissions office (as long as I wasn't wearing my "Friends Don't Let Friends Go To Calvin" t-shirt.)
Waitress.
Consulting firm administration.
Shipping and billing for a woodstove manufacturer.
Nanny.
Cold calling -- err, "Admissions Representative" for an online university.
Barista and manager for a coffee house.
Receptionist for a salon and day spa.

Seriously, I probably need an intervention. And I'm sure I've left at least one or two jobs out. But I'm kinda proud that I can honestly say that I can do all that stuff (well, MOST of that stuff.) And that I've lived all of those places. I mean, life is an adventure. How boring to do the same thing every day.

So, like I said, my friends and family all deserve a gold star. Firstly, for keeping up with my latest life experiments. And, secondly, for letting me ride that ride until I'm ready to get off and never once giving me crap for always being ready to try the next new thing.