And Jayme Said: It is Good

So you all know the supermarket scene near the end of Shawshank when Red asks to go to the bathroom? "Forty years I been askin' permission to piss," he says. "I can't a squeeze a drop with say-so."

Well, yesterday I had a Red moment. It was a beautiful day out. I'd been freshening up a policy paper for two-and-a-half hours. And darn it all-- I was gonna eat my lunch outside. I sent an email to my comm. team informing them I was stepping out (from 12:30 to 1:00) and attached my cell number in case they need to get a hold of me.

Suddenly, Jessica laughs in the next cubicle. "Jayme, you can just go," she said. "No one's gonna need you. Oh, yeah. And you can take an hour. If you run over, no one's timing you."

Compare, for a second, this shining revelation with a time when frantic strangers would get me out of bed at 6:30 a.m., I'd receive three urgent ETA-requests if I took a wrong turn somewhere, and I always kept a charged camera, black windbreaker and extra makeup in the car in case I ever drove up on a drunk-driving accident at 3 a.m. on a Sunday. Oh yeah... I did.

On Wednesday (my first day), HR was almost apologetic when they told me I have 11 paid holidays off. I kindly reminded them that I've worked every Christmas, Thanksgiving and Fourth of July since 2005.

Now I know this gig is going to get stressful (quickly, perhaps) and I'll form a new list of things that make me grind my teeth. But I've found the transition from one career to the next quite refreshing. I'm sure someone trapped in a cubicle like mine for a number of years would be equally enamored with the physical freedom my old job offers.

Since I never focus on an impending list of negative aspects, here's a list of things that make me very happy these days:

-my relaxing, hour-long reading session while the MBTA takes me to work each day
-being greeted with a sunrise each time I step onto Atlantic Ave.
-seeing the word "Atlantic"
-all the policemen and construction workers say "Hi" back
-the main Boston Fire Department building looks like it came out of a Superman movie
-at least a dozen high school and college friends work within walking distance
-buildings here do not impede the scenery; they are the scenery
-I can take an hour for lunch and no one can bother me
-I can eat my lunch in Quincy Market
-I have health insurance again!! (Diabetes + no coverage = expensive and scary... not gonna lie)
-each day at 5 o'clock, I'm greeted by a Harbor breeze I am inadequate to describe
-my day ends at 5 o'clock
-I don't come home to an empty house
-the Sox game is always televised
-I can go to Homecoming without sprinting the length of O'Hare airport in 11 minutes

I think Red said it best: I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain.

And yes, the Atlantic is as blue as it was in my dreams.

Rube