Sunday, May 23, 2010

Work Memories

Six years ago today I got my first job. Wow, was it really that long ago? A golden day in May, just like today. I was on top of the world. I was almost done with 7th grade and rocking all my work. I would finish in an hour or less (to my and my parents' utter surprise) and play Perfect Dark until it was time to sleep. Oh, how good life was. A job, a real one, with payroll and lunch breaks and a boss, not some lawnmowing or babysitting job where I'd awkwardly wait around for the adult to dig out his or her wallet and extract some cash. No, this was a real job. $8.50 an hour was nothing to sneeze at.

I was excited. Real responsibilities. Running errands in the city--alone! Cashing MY paycheck! It gave me a feeling of independence. I've always hated asking for money. I was my own personal ATM. The First Bank of Lizz. And what would a 13-year-old buy? Video games... and the occasional splurge. At 14 I purchased my very own Burberry cashmere muffler. Brick red, of course. And on sale, too. Not that it made that much of a difference. It was the first expensive thing I've ever bought to wear. I loved (and still love) that scarf. I look at it and remember when it was new--before I had to get two pinholes rewoven, before the tag fell off and I sewed it back on, before the fringe twisted itself into dreadlocks. I remember the optimism, the joy, the power.

No comments:

Post a Comment