The suspicions of seven-year-old me have been confirmed:  adults are more than likely having a lot of fun while kids are sleeping.  We have fun with the kids, too.

Babies are still kind of gross and too fragile, but they’re more approachable now.

To the middle years kids hanging in small groups against walls and near drapes all night:  I feel you.  Do your own thing for a while.  You can come hang pretty soon.

Love, a grown-up-but-not-old kind of fun cousin*

 

*I prefer “cousin” as the most palatable gender neutral term for aunt or uncle.  This may be something I’ll have to insist on, just in case any of the young ones needs a bona fide queer on their team.  I have two step-nephews, which is unnecessarily bulky language, to be sure, but wait until you hear about my two baby first cousins once removed.  Ha!

In a bizarre twist of fate, my first office job fell directly into my lap. Right now. I’m thirty three. I didn’t apply, but after four gloriously unemployed months suddenly found myself with forty hours a week to attend to. Thank fuck it’s a temp job–that helps make it an adventure.

I spend my days listening to and transcribing calls from a massive brokerage firm. It’s such a far cry from my own world that it feels like a fiction. To begin with, going into an office for work almost doesn’t seem real, but then to spend the day listening to money people hawking and politicking and shouting and agreeing! Indeed, I can only compare these conversations to media I’ve encountered. And let me tell you, too, it’s all pretty much what you’d expect.

Still, a girl can learn something from every adventure. Some things are nice to have reiterated, especially from people so unlike oneself. For example, you need not be effusive to be kind. These people are all very respectful of each other, even when seriously fired up. It’s actually impressive. They are also kind, but they don’t mince words. “You’re all good” or “no worries” are common notions when people move on from an upset. I’ve also been reminded that few things are actual emergencies, but excitement is exciting. This, of course, I already knew too well.

Here is a really neat lesson: the idea of “color”. “Just to give you some color on that,” someone will say after sharing the feelings they’ve witnessed surrounding a certain subject. Maybe they’ve seen a lot of something in particular trading, or just a few kinds of something but not others. This shouldn’t only be a market thing. I personally need a lot of blanks filled in because I’m anxious and will easily do it on my own with the worst answers. I could never be a broker. But I could always accept some “color” on subjects of importance to me. Probably needs a better word. Let’s just normalize the concept of making calls to feel something out. Right?

Lastly, the alpha and omega of truths: these brokers all know very well that nothing is final. They know everything is always in flux. And no matter how confident they seem (or anti “woo” for that matter!) these people understand that we are all, every one of us, just guessing.