A New Day

First "real" day as a New Yorker, I woke up to a cloudy, rainy, humid day in the NYC. So cloudy I couldn’t see the top of Empire State Building. I was anxious but excited – up at 5:45 am and out the door at 7 am! Yes, I'm a nerd and took a picture of my first day! (Everyone else was just getting up when I left!)

I called Mom and Dad as I ran across a street – they’d been worried I would oversleep! I was totally feeling like Mary Tyler Moore! Only thing was – where were all the people?? I had expected the sidewalks to be full. (Little did I know, it doesn’t get going around here until 8 am!) It was sprinkling and my hair was frizzing! Thankfully Julie had gone umbrella shopping with me in Birmingham. “You need to have a little umbrella you can always carry around with you in case it rains.” Julie’s always right.

I was at the front door of the office by 7:30, and the doors were locked! And it was raining! My hair was getting bigger and nastier by the second. I was scared to walk too far to look for a Starbucks or just somewhere to go inside, so I hung out down the street under the awning of a building. I must have looked so pathetic! Finally at 8 am, with the doors still locked, I called my boss who was already inside and let me in. We don’t have to be at work until 9!! Who knew?! Early bird gets the pick of the desks, though!

An answer to prayer – when the other two new people got there (Shane from New York and Lauren from Chicago) – I was immediately thankful. They just LOOKED nice! We got settled in and got to know each other, met with HR, and then met everyone who works there…all while sporting my big, scary frizzy hair!! I will get over it – someday!

I had a great first day, and mostly was overwhelmed by the sweet phone calls, text messages and emails from everyone in Birmingham. It means so much to me!