Trader Joe's

My new job is going quite well. I love the people that I work with. They're really fun, encouraging, and super helpful to my newbie status.

I've definitely toughened up the past month that I've been there. I noticed last night that my volleyball legs have returned and my quads are definitely protruding a bit more than they did in late Spring. My mind and body also like to think that I've dropped a few pounds, or at least toned a bit from the repetitive exercise. I'm actually sore after work. Each day and night before and after my shift I take a little extra time to stretch to help my muscles stay calm and collected. That is one difference from adolescence to now. In high school I knew stretching was good for me and I liked it, but now I really need to do it to help me get around the next day without hobbling across the apartment. I like the fact that I get exercise at work, and this way there really is no need for me to covet a gym membership. More materialistically speaking now, my arms and legs are also quite bruised as a result of my fearless raid on each box of cereal, chips, or dried fruit and nuts. While I got cool color-changing bruises on my hips and knees from volleyball, the quantity of brown spots all over my body makes me feel like an overripe banana. Oh well, I view them as battle scars, and proof of my fierce and efficient perspective on being a hard working employee.

Not only have I noticed a physical change, but a change in myself. Part of that is my grumpiness and irritability from the change in sleeping patterns and exhaustion of my body, but also from these physical limits I am making other life limits too. This simple job is helping me to prioritize in my life what I have, what's in front of me, and what I want. For the first two weeks in July when I wasn't working, I was able to devote much of my time to reading and solo activities that I do just for me. A huge part of that has been spending time reading a vast genre of books, and actively and lovingly pursuing my Creator through reading my Bible and journaling. This yearning and devotion to read, study, taking quite time to sort through my thoughts has carried into the latter half of the month and taken the front burner to many other free-time activities. While I am sad to not always share the companionship of my friends in the North Shore, my time to myself is much needed and for that I am grateful that I have it. But this time is not always just by myself, I know I am in good company of my God, the Ultimate Companion. All this to say, that work is going well and I can see ways that my being there is good for me on many levels.

Goals for the next month of working at Trader Joe's:

• Remain injury free (because I don't count the bruises, mostly figuratively speaking, but that can be applied literally as well)!
• Become faster and more efficient with the price gun
• Be trained on register
• Have everyone's name memorized (except the few people who I never have met and will never see)
• Make one purchase at Trader Joe's and reap the benefits of my 10% employee discount

(I know these are very realistic, but purposely so, so I can achieve them. Haha!)