My sweater has arrived in Vancouver before me!

Oh well, looks like this blog will be in written more in English than in Romanian from now on. Even my “About” became English, if you haven’t notice. This is not because I don’t like to communicate in Romanian anymore but because I also started to enjoy jotting down bits and pieces in English. Enjoy is the keyword here.

Ok, this time is stolen from writing my resume. I’m looking for a new job, in a new city if possible (preferably California), in a new stage of my life. What happened is I threw away my pink and red T-shirts and ideas and I replaced them with green items because at this time they suit me better. The only thing I’m still musing over is how did one good friend know to bring me a green purse as a birthday gift in January 2010 when I only fell in love with this color in July 2011?? Wait a minute, but she is a marketing professional, there is something really interesting here. Now I remember that when I was very young (too young), they told us marketing is art and science. I'm 36 going on 37 and only now I get the part about art. That purse is today one of my very favorites.

Now do you remember that funny and convoluted time interval when I was rambling about going back to Romania for good? I wasn’t only rambling as a matter of fact, I also took action. I packed books, magazines, clothes and who knows what else in a few boxes and I appeared full of hope in the door of one of those brave shipping companies which make a good solid profit by moving tools and stuff between the Romanian-Americans based in Chicago and their country-of-origin-next-of-kin. Should I mention again that guy who was sending enough toilet paper to fully accommodate his ass during his winter stay in Romania? Maybe I shouldn’t.

Anyway, I sent the merchandise and then things happened and I became convinced that there are enough worthwhile points of interest to explore in the United States (California among them) that maybe I won’t want to live in Romania as of exactly right now. So this summer I went over there to visit my parents and the merchandise. I spent a fabulous time with my parents, they pampered me as I like to be pampered every once in a while and I gave them back all the love I stocked up in the two whole years since my last visit.

And I also went through the merchandise. I caressed every book and I decided to bring back a few of them. Do you know many books that crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice? This is why I am stuck with the idea that mine are somehow special, or is it because I am special? The thing is I also went through the innumerable pieces of clothes piled in those boxes and I concluded that although they were all new, I don’t really need that much stuff to be happy. So I kept a few of them and I decided to give away the remainder. I even gave away perfumes and I was as happy in doing this as if I received them!! Now is this a post-traumatic reaction to the horrors of the free-market capitalism?? We don’t know for sure but we can devise and test a working hypothesis and busy ourselves for the months to come.

I gave a few things to a good friend of my mother and she liked them so much that she took them with her when visiting her son in the beautiful Vancouver. I was so happy to see that she really liked those things, because I really like her, too. Then I saw some pictures of her in Vancouver and I suddenly realized that my ex-sweater was making more progress than me in the delightful act of travel and I became somehow envious, yes, envious. See, even perfect people can have dubious feelings, now that I come to think about it. My sweater is relaxing near the Pacific Ocean and I am still in Chicago!

I am happy for my sweater though, because I cannot harbor resentments for a long while, and I take this opportunity to put Vancouver on my to-do-and-irremediably-fall-in-love-with cities list. And I’ve heard the most disturbing piece of news about Vancouver, namely that there are ocean beaches and mountain peaks combined over there and scenic drives and all kind of things which can tempt in the blink of an eye any fleeing Midwesterner.

So I want to sent my ex-sweater the best wishes, be smart and enjoy every moment of West Coast walk and talk and take healthy pride in being a traveled piece of apparel because this is one of the most important means to enlarge your horizons and to keep your mind open to new possibilities.

Oh, and I hear they are biking heavily in Vancouver, another reason to love the area and think about not coming back.