Our Chickadees Are Taking Test-Flights

Our daughter, Ali, is on the President’s list at her college, and just completing her first semester. She’s in the culinary arts program and must obtain an externship working in a restaurant kitchen for the summer. Needless to say, she’s been pretty busy sending out cover letters and resumes for about three weeks now. One position was for a Sous Chef in another town and Ali was very excited about that one. Unfortunately, the chef there sent her an encouraging but cryptic response that didn’t tell her if he wanted to hire her or not. He just said he’d contact her closer to summer. She had to secure a position by mid-May so she kept looking. Late Friday night, another chef asked if she could come for an interview the next morning. She did and he offered her a job on the spot. It’s a restaurant that focuses on all natural foods (no chemicals and animal-friendly practices) and sustainable living. It’s also fine dining. Ali was very excited about that because she’s been studying organic food preparation and preservation (as a hobby – her school doesn’t offer classes on that) for a couple of years now. However, Ali had one more interview scheduled for noon that day.

The next one went well for Ali but not for the interviewer. He told Ali an odd and disturbing story from his childhood that I won’t repeat here. Let’s just say Ali would never work for anyone who did the thing he did…much less for anyone who admitted it to a stranger. Also, the guy never mentioned a pay rate. That was weird.

That afternoon, she checked her email and the restaurant offering the Sous Chef job had written, asking her when they could add her to the schedule. Oddly, they never mentioned pay, either. If they’d offered Ali that job three weeks ago, she’d have taken it. However, by that time, she’d already made her decision to work for the all-natural/fine dining one.

The location is close enough to commute but we didn’t want her on the road that much, especially late at night. So, then we had to find her an apartment. We started looking late Saturday and continued all day on Sunday. One place was advertising $700/month “vacation cabins” that turned out to be shacks. Another $1000/month one had graffiti on the door and holes in the walls. We were starting to get nervous and that commuting thing was starting to look better and better. However, our last appointment of the day was awesome. The apartment is small, quite affordable, relatively new and within walking distance of her job. Her new place is near a drug store, a coffee shop, a craft store and, best of all, a candy store! She’ll start moving in on May 1st and she is SO excited!

I know what you’re thinking. Empty nest syndrome. We went through the first phase of that last year when our oldest moved out. Here’s the good news (for me). His landlord will no longer be renting at the end of this month and he’s moving back into his old room on May 1st. Ali will be moving back in at the end of the summer so I will be just fine. All my chickadees are still in the nest. They’re just taking a few test flights.

This week’s Maxism:

While taking a bubble bath: “I’m Mermaid Man!”

Hugs to all!

Angela

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