Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

Happy New Chapter

I have arrived on the East Coast, saw some of my family, made my way up to the North Country in the Adirondack Mountains and into the start of my new job. It’s a new chapter in so many ways! A new, old state, a change from living on the coast of the Pacific Ocean near San Francisco where forty degrees was a freezing cold winter day to the near arctic where a sunny day in the high forties means students are wearing shorts. It’s funny how quickly you adapt, at fifty degrees in San Francisco it was hat, gloves and I was chilly. Today at fifty degrees I dumped the hat, the gloves and didn’t zip my jacket up because it was so warm, old habits come back quick. I remember those minus twenty degree days in Plattsburgh, “spring” days in the low 40’s where we went out in shorts and t-shirts to play hackey sack because it was forty degrees warmer than the day before. And those days are coming for me again, I know that, but for now I’m enjoying the sunny, late fall days, even if the sun sets the minute I leave work.

There are more changes, I reached out to a friend from my first college who I haven’t spoken to in forty years, he’s a couple hours away now. He responded, we’re making plans to get together. One of my best friend’s job is bringing him to town tomorrow so we’ll have a chance to connect. There have been connections between new colleagues and old friends to the point my president remarked in a meeting that I’m obviously well known in the North Country. That’s a little bit of an exaggeration, for the moment anyway.

For this last chapter of life I’ve been pretty expressive that I have some real specific goals. I wanted things in some ways to be less, less busy, less stress, less responsibility while still contributing and doing good work. I’m happy to say, even four days in, that this job will provide all of that. As I was leaving work this past Friday, day three, I was thinking about the difference between that moment and what each Friday had felt like the last eight years in my old job and I’ve been expressing it this way. For the last eight years my Friday afternoon stress level would easily be a minimum of 85/100, and this last Friday, it was 2/100, and it was only a two because I almost had to call a student’s parent but a colleague took pity on me being new and jumped in to do it. This job will be productive and impactful, but I won’t be getting emergency calls at 10PM, or on the weekend, I’m shifting from managing 107 people to managing 7, so it’s a pretty big personnel management break. And that’s just for the first six months, after that I’ll be managing no one but myself. So far, my new colleagues have been incredibly nice, and I’ve noticed that, nice, is just a general attitude in the area. People move a little slower here, are a little less stressed and are a little bit more generally pleasant. Not to mention traffic is pretty much non-existent and happily, I’ve found good pizza.

Some of the other goals I had are to be more social, to be a little more kind and more relaxed. I’ve already put my name in circulation to help out with the local theater company, will be volunteering to assist with the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival and will be doing a guided old growth forest walk in a couple of weeks. Living in an apartment on campus also affords me some nice opportunities, basketball games are a five minute walk away, as is the fitness center and our hockey team plays a fifteen minute drive away. There are miles of places to walk out my front door and insane amounts of photographic opportunities around all of the lakes, ponds and rivers that inundate the forests here, and that’s before the ice and snow show up and make it even more interesting shooting.

I’m almost comfortably into my new place. My moving company saga continues but I’m sure it will get resolved soon. And I have all of the new place things to do, registration, license, insurance, replacing my windshield because I won’t be able to register my car with my current cracked windshield. And being very rural now means that’s an hour drive to a dealership and a full day off of work to get it done. But if all works out, I’ll take that day and the next to hang out in Plattsburgh where I went to college, see some friends and catch a couple of hockey games. Trying to make the most of the slower pace, bigger distances and not so urgent reality of rural life.

So I’m hopeful that the new chapter is going to help me accomplish the things I was looking for, I’m sure it won’t be perfect but I’m also sure there will be some positive surprises I’m not anticipating. Tonight I return to writing, the blog tonight and back into my memoir starting tomorrow night, shooting to get the first full draft done by the end of December. So, tonight, lots of hope and opportunity. The lesson in tonight’s post is a big one. Change is possible, you can take chances that work out for the better and as always, focusing on what fills your soul and makes you happy will almost always serve you well. I hope you’re having a happy day my friends. ~ Rev Kane