I first want to say how silly the term "New Beginnings" is, if only because all beginnings are new in some way. But oh well. I'm for want of a better title, but "New Beginnings" will do in a pinch.
My meeting with the agency went surprisingly well. I was told some things I already knew: that my look is commercial but my book is fashion, and, as a result, I'm not marketing myself well. Boston is also a commercial market, so having a commercial look is useful, if marketed well. I asked the questions that I needed to ask (as some agents use "your book is all wrong" as a plot to spend thousands of dollars to hire their photographers) and I left the agency with my name signed on the dotted line and a few snapshots taken of me. My first casting is this Monday.
(Minor side note: this Monday also happens to be the one day I don't have a car. My husband and I have been dragging our feet about getting a second car, and purchasing a house/making simultaneous mortgage AND rent payments have definitely made the process even slower. So what do I do? Call up the Toyota dealership down the street and see if they have rentals. Like a boss.)
I labeled this summer as the Summer of Change as early as this past March. Certain major changes I knew were going to happen: I was going to step down as a teacher, I was going to knock a major thing off my bucket list and go on a cross-country drive, I was going to switch cell phone carriers (the most minor of the three, but still). Certain major changes had the potential to happen: buying a house, leaving my old agency, perhaps joining a new agency, perhaps finding a job teaching tai chi. So, in the span of 3 months, I quit my job, left the early education world behind, bought a house, went on a cross-country road trip, switched carriers, switched agencies, and learned how to paint a house. In a few weeks, the movers will be coming in to bring over our furniture and major boxes, as well as I will be teaching another demo class at a yoga studio in Merrimack.
If there's one thing I've learned about me, it's that I love all my "New Chapters" in my life to be as different from the previous chapter as possible.
With all these "new beginnings" taking place, it seemed fitting that yesterday was filled with an intense nostalgia. The agency I met with is in the Back Bay/Copley area of Boston. I spent the better part of 5 years living and working around that area. I walked up and down Mass Ave and Boylston and Newbury St like I got paid hourly for it. I would blast Maria Mena and Augustana from my iPod and walked until my legs were ready to give out. Then I'd cut across the Public Garden and the Common until I hit Downtown Crossing and take the Orange Line back.
I got into Boston early yesterday, terrified that a shift in traffic (or a T delay) would make me late. This resulted in me being able to enjoy the Back Bay for a solid hour and a half. I set up my earbuds, played Augustana on my phone, and walked the streets I knew so well.
It's hard for me to imagine that it was almost 8 years ago that I was a college freshman. It's also hard for me to imagine that I was ever a college freshman at all. I remember walking these streets alone for the first time, taking everything in and understanding that this was part of my neighborhood now.
But I guess that's life for you. God help me, I would never want to be like that 19-year-old ever again, so it's probably a good thing that my life has sent me on as many twists and turns as it did.
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