Thank you

Dear Universe,

You never cease to amaze me. I don't mean in a Oh!-the-endless-intricacies-of-nature! way (though sometimes that too) but rather in a What-the-fuck-do-you-think-you're-doing-now?! kind of way. Today you really came through for me. In spades, actually.  And I have no idea how you finagled it.

This past month has been rough. I turned 23 and then the shit settled in: no day job, no new house, trying to pave my way at a new theater company, bleeding money, having my wife move away, missing my wife, living in a perpetual state of temporary while the two-bedroom Manor plays home to three. I had been frantically searching the internet for a place to live in May, by June I was looking for anything that might house us, as well as a new job. First searching for nanny positions eventually turned into looking for whatever might hire me.

And here we are, the last week of June. July is on the horizon and I woke up this morning in the exact same position as all the twenty-six days before. I am in bed now, seventeen hours later, with both a job and a house. How?

You, Universe. You and your mysterious What-the-fuck-do-you-think-you're-doing?! ways. I really have nothing to say beyond that because I cannot even begin to fathom it. It all happens so fast and with such surety, it was as if you (the Universe) just happened to look down today and said to yourself, "Humm, I know I've forgotten to take care of something. Whaaaat is it? *taps pencil on bridge of nose* Hummmm??? Maybe it - no, no, got that... Wha- OH MY GOD, OLIVIA'S LIFE. SHIT, MAN. Ummmmmm - here! I'll just shoot this arrow full of good luck and ridiculous timing right through that Portland cloud cover, my usual modus operandi of mysterious and intricate plans unfolding slowly be damned!" BOOM.

You know, Universe, I wrote that "BOOM" at the end of that sentence right up there and I immediately thought of a friend from college who once (under the severe influence of drugs) drew a picture of a brigade of multi-colored grim reapers pointing at a young man sitting on a rock and they all were saying, in unison, "BOOM. YOUR TIME HAS COME." And you know what else, Universe? I think it's true: my time has come. Here it is. It's here now. My time to make something out of these extraordinary gifts you just gave me.

I plan to learn and grow and save and stretch and fix and goddamn dec-or-ate for the next little chunk of my life, thanks to this little townhouse and this little job you just dropped off. I hope that's what you wanted me to do, but honestly I have no idea. And I never will. I'll just do this and keep chugging and see what happens next.

But for now: thank you. Seriously, thank you. Thank you. You kind of left it until the eleventh hour, yes, but still: thank you.

With all my heart, not a little wonder and a lot of perplexity,
Okay Em