Mother's Day night--aka The Little Voice

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and feel like I've been awakened for a reason. The wee hours of the Monday morning after Mother's Day were such an occasion. It was about 3 in the morning, and I heard a little voice (inside my head) say, "Quit."

"Like tomorrow?!?!" I asked, more than a tad bewildered.

"You can wait until after Tuesday, if you want," the voice nonchalantly responded.

Now I'd been working at Starbucks for about 10 months at that point, been promoted to shift supervisor, loved my coworkers and my customers, but a new manager had made working in the store more difficult. The next two days at work were frustrating as we transitioned to the summer beverages and had to deal with a lot of corporate mumbo jumbo. By the end of Tuesday, I realized that I really don't care about the Mint Mocha Chip Frappucino, and I need to do something I care about, so I gave my notice. June 8th was my last day.

For the past month, I've been enjoying semi-retirement. I've been doing a lot of reflection, a lot of walking and reading, spending a lot of time with friends, babysitting for some friends getting really attached to a new infant.

I had an idea to take a road trip around the country visiting all my facebook and myspace friends in person and writing a book and making a documentary about human connection in this generation. I got books on media and on the power of human touch. I looked into getting a vehicle donated to me. I charted the course back and forth through over 40 states. When the total number of miles for the rough draft route came to 15,000, I began to question whether I really wanted to do this. During a week of diligent soul-searching on my own and with friends, I came to the conclusion that sticking in LA, pressing into friends here, continuing to develop community around me, doing things that make me come alive, and finding a job that would be meaningful might be a better solution, at least for now. Continue to let my heart heal and establish healthy life rhythms in my life.

So goodbye Mint Mocha Chip Frappucino. I have not missed you. Though I have missed the phenomenal people of West Hollywood. And a paycheck. I guess I miss that too.