Six Sides

When I was little, my mama used to say the she had three sides, one for each of her daughters: a right, a left, and a lap. I think it was her way of saying she's always there for all three of us, like she's able to be in more than one places at once. But what happens when you need more than three sides because you want to be in more than three places at the same time?

This weekend, I spent new year's in Birmingham with a few of my friends. All of us graduated this year, meaning we all went in different directions. I realized this weekend that I had successfully avoided the problem of where I'm going to spend my first years after college; don't you just love year long internship. But then it dawned on me that in 8 months I'll be moving somewhere with a real job, unless something truly tragic happens. Here are a few of my choices and the pros to them:

Atlanta
- I could live with my sisters, which would be fun and probably a surprise a minute. (my sisters and I get along surprisingly well) Atlanta would have more opportunities to see more interesting things and closer to the CDC, which would be my dream job location.

LaGrange/ Columbus
- I would probably rent an apartment even though it's still home. My family is here and my best friend (even though she does want to move at some point in time.) Cynthia would be the biggest pull for this one. And the place you do your internship usually does offer you a job (watch that comment come to bite me later)

Mobile
- I have a lot of camp friends down in this area. I would love to get involved with the youth in the church in Mobile, since I was their camp counselor or at least their lifeguard for a lot of summers. My grandparents are also in Mobile.

Birmingham
- I have liked the city ever since I first went there four years ago. I like that it's a city but there's still a lot of trees so it doesn't look so big. And I love the mountains. I also have a lot of friends from Auburn that now live in Birmingham, and I loved hanging out with them so much this weekend.

Somewhere more north
- I've always wanted to live somewhere where it snows. And if I go to Baltimore or D.C. I'd bee closer to getting to a Blood Banking program with John Hopkins or the NIH. And I really want to get my SBB (unless that changes in the next 6 months)

A traveling Job
- I'd like to travel and it would be a good time to do it before I get settled and while I'm still young. Much to my parent's dismay, I'm sure, I'd love to travel over-seas with something like the Peace Corp. or just something really neat.

But I think I'm ready to face this decision now, more than I was four months ago. But I guess the first step would be to start applying for jobs. And I guess well find out which side wins out in 8 months if not sooner.