[PART 3]

A month ago, I was penniless. Suddenly, I’m getting paid a day rate *just for being me.* I have an expense account, a phone stipend, paid business travel.
I used to go to extreme lengths to save money getting where I needed to go. Now my Lyft app is set up for direct bill.
I once gathered coins on an airport floor just to be able to buy a sandwich. Now I order sushi, and expense it.

What is life?

…the favor of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it…

I’ve been sent a plane ticket for an immediate training trip on March 3rd. I must learn to fight fires at sea. I must learn rescue and survival in the open water, should a ship go down.

The ship I’ve been reserved for, has not been built yet. But, the company decided to lock down its team of managers in advance. They don’t want us to go work for other companies…. They want us to wait for them. So they will pay us, every day, to stay at home… til the time comes. They will also fly us around the world to learn about our brand. I will be sent to the Rhine, Alaska, and the Pacific Coast, just because.

In the meantime, I can help corporate HR with the rest of the hiring process. I make the calls and the job offers. I interview prospects to join the team. I gather IDs and airport codes, and help facilitate the coordinated move of a dispersed crew to home port. My first paycheck hits my account, and suddenly, I make an easy dent in the debt I’ve been tackling for ages.

Though I’ve only just moved in with Haley, Damon, Dan and Kurtis, we’ve fallen in love: every day has been magical. Ever since the landlord announced her evil plan to sell our house, we’ve upped our commitment to ‘family time’. We want to savor every last moment of life together.

From the day I moved in, I have wanted to do something special for my roommates.
Back in September, when I stepped across the threshold of the blue house, I was exhausted, broke, and shy. But I found Dan and Kurtis hard at work in the kitchen, smiling bright as they worked together on a welcome home meal. As easily as breathing, they flung the windows and doors of new life together wide open.

They showed me where *our* beers were, and told me to grab one. I sat watching them chop, whisk, season and stir for a half hour and thought,
*Who could imagine this? And what can I return to these good men?*
Then one Thursday night, a funny idea struck me as I dragged our massive, overflowing recycling bins to the curb. We had beer bottles on beer bottles!! And they were each worth one shiny nickel! Maybe… if I saved enough, I could treat us to something fine.

And so, from October to March, our treasure trove of *trash money* steadily grew.

Somewhere along the way, Haley and I made the charming discovery that we had worn the same Jessica McClintock gown to our high school dances. Better yet, we still had them, all these years later!