Everyone I spoke to about my plans to drive to New York always asked one question: who is going with you? To be honest I hadn’t considered it necessary. And when it appeared that no one was going to be able to go with me, I wasn’t concerned about doing the drive on my own. Partly I saw it as an opportunity to transition myself into the idea that I would soon be living in New York (!) on my own (!). But I think another reason a solo road trip to the North East didn’t phase me is because I had already had a practice-round road trip to Utah a month before to help my roommate (my best friend) from college move into grad school. Now, I was not alone on that drive, and I really didn’t even do much of the driving, but nevertheless I was now mentally prepped for a multi-day cross-country adventure. And speaking of practice rounds, I suppose I should tell the story of how this drive to NYC began in the first place…
I had applied to Wagner College on Staten Island for the position of Admissions Counselor. They called me back on a Friday to ask if I would come up for an interview, and we scheduled it for the following Tuesday. Well Saturday I went out with my mom and grandma to buy an interview suit, and on Sunday morning I was sitting at the airport terminal, freaking out. I kept thinking, what the hell am I doing here… Why am I on a plane going to New York?
Once we began the descent to LaGuardia, I became enchanted by the buildings and roads growing larger below me, and with my new distraction I began to calm down. Walking through the airport, I found that I was getting excited about the interview and about being in the city again. I had all of Sunday to re-gather my sanity and remember why I was here. I decided that Monday would be a good time to do a dry run of my trip from my aunt’s place in Queens (where I was staying) to the college and to spend some time in the city. It took a couple subways and a ferry ride to get to Staten Island, but it was a piece of cake.
I was glad to have that under my belt so that the next day could go more smoothly. In the morning I left an hour early so I was sure to get there on time. I rode up the escalator at the subway station and walked onto the train that was sitting there. No sooner had I placed my hand on the railing than a voice came over the loudspeaker announcing that there was a switchboard malfunction at Grand Central, and all trains headed that way would have significant delays. “Well of course they would,” I thought, “this is my big day. Someone’s trying to be funny…” So I had to take other subways to get down to the ferry terminal, where I was less than a minute late for boarding the boat, and they closed the gate as I was walking up. So I sat patiently for the next thirty minutes, reminding myself that I was about to take the very last ferry that would still get me to the college on time. The interview went well (obviously), and I was back in Dallas Thursday evening. The very next day, they called to offer me the job, and a week later I was packing for my drive through the North East.
So this past Sunday I began the first leg of my road trip, which took me to Memphis, Tennessee. I only stopped for gas and lunch, since I left around 11:00, and I had about a seven hour drive. Now, the reason I’m driving instead of flying is because I’ll need my car to go to the different high schools I’ll have to visit. I also had a lot of stuff to move up to New York so I figured the easiest way to start moving it would be to pack my car as full as I could with what I needed for the first month or so, and then figure out later how to get the rest of it brought up.
I decided that I would try and make this a fast-food-free road trip, so I stopped in Arkansas for a bite of local barbeque and some sweet tea. Then somewhere along the line I passed an exit for the town of Fate, and I can’t remember whether I was still in Texas or Arkansas, but it made me wonder what that word means to me. Are we each destined for something specific? I know I wanted badly to move out of Texas, and the job description had sounded like it was right up my alley. Maybe in a way that can be fate, your personality and desires dictating where your life will lead you, but I hardly believe that the events in my life have been set into motion so that I could recruit and admit students to a small college in New York. But who knows? Maybe that’s a big question from someone who hadn’t even made it to her destination yet, much less begun living and working there… A few minutes later I passed another exit sign for another city, and it made me laugh. I was out of Fate just as quickly as I had found myself in it. I like to think that we’re given opportunities in life, and its what we make of each of them that determines our path, a combination of luck and the right attitude. I hope the people who live in Fate appreciate the possibilities of such a name.
I stayed that night at a Holiday Inn in Memphis with an indoor swimming pool and hot tub, which I had all to myself. I found sushi for dinner, which wasn't local, but I was starving. And at least it wasn't fast-food. My move to New York had started out well.
