When I came to DC in February of this year for my visit, it was just to be a vacation. Watching my niece all day (fun for me--I got so little time with her during the year, I was happy to watch her all day to try to get my fill in the few days I got to be there), hitting up the Smithsonians, running on the National Mall, and just hanging out with my sister and brother in law and having fun.
And, for the most part, that was was happened. Sort of.
As I'd mentioned, it turns out I'd picked up a rather nasty bug somewhere along the line days before my vacation was to start (naturally--isn't that how it always happens?). And, despite my dedicated use of nasty ZiCam dissolving tablets (dear ZiCam--please bring back the nose swabs! Seriously!), my symptoms just progressed leading up to and during my trip. But I am stubborn and, when I feel like it, particularly good at denial.
I was sniffley, had chest congestion I had never before known the likes of, had fatigue like woah, and often felt extremely short of breath (the cold air felt like FIRE in my lungs), but still insisted on pushing my niece the mile or two to whichever museum I thought would be a fun visit that day. So while I had the presence of mind to forgo running on the National Mall, the repeated field trips into the cold weather were--in hindsight--also not helping my case. My symptoms got even worse as my visit went on--one afternoon, I found myself lying face-down on my air mattress at my sister's condo while my niece tore pages from a magazine next to me. It occupied her, and I honestly hadn't the energy to get up and try to entertain her myself. I figured if she was happy doing that, I'd let her. Of course my sister came home right around that time--I'm sure I looked like Auntie of the Year.
So that was the state I was in when I received an unexpected phone call. During some downtime, I'd hopped on my laptop and perused the DC and Baltimore Craigslists, just seeing what cake jobs were around, if any. I'd found a couple Baltimore jobs that looked interesting, and had sent off virtual copies of my resume, photos of my work, and notes explaining very clearly that while I was not living in the area, I was visiting for the week and very much considering a move. I figured, worst case scenario, I would just never hear back, and I would head back to Santa Fe and ramp up my search out there.
But then I got a call from a well-established Baltimore cake shop--they'd gotten my e-mail and wanted me to come in for an interview! I agreed--I didn't know exactly how I'd get up there (it was about an hour's drive, and nowhere near the Metro lines), but I was determined to rent a car if I had to. Luckily, when I told my lovely older sister about it, she excitedly told me they had provided HER wedding cake years back, and she would be happy to drive me (and get some cake after).
She dredged up some interview worthy clothes for me to wear (those, I had not packed--I honestly had not thought I would ever get an interview, despite my hopes), we dropped my niece off at daycare for the morning, and headed up the 95 to Baltimore.
No comments:
Post a Comment