I’ve recently tried my hand at being a matchmaker. I say “recently,” but in truth it’s been a few years. A few years of miserable failure.

Example #1 – I tried to set up a close female friend with a customer from the gas station I worked at. He came in every night and we had struck up a friendship of sorts. I knew he had a job and a car, so he wasn’t a bum who would use her for her money. He was funny and nice, so I hoped he wouldn’t break her heart. I planned a group outing and was dismayed when during the night, she said she wasn’t interested. Plus, she was insistent that he liked me. Nope, she had to be dead wrong. My gut feeling was that he liked her. One year later, we got married.

Example #2 – When planning the wedding, my mom decided she would set up the friend from example #1 with the son of her best friend. No way, Mom. Those two would never get together! A year later, we were sitting at *their* wedding.

Example #3 – I was noticed how flirty two mutual friends were being. They spent a lot of time together and seemed to be really close. I couldn’t understand why they weren’t dating. When I approached my female friend, she said she viewed him as a brother and dating him would be too weird. When I approached my male friend, he also said dating her would be too weird since she was like a little sister. I was shot down before either gave it a chance. (For the record, I still think they’d make a cute couple. But, whatever. It’s not like they know best or anything.)

Example #4 – When lamenting to a friend about how my career as a matchmaker was crashing, he told me to pretend to introduce him to a mutual male friend. As I made my introductions between the two heterosexual guys who had been friends for years, they locked into an embrace. Success! Even if it had been their way of mocking me.

I take what I can.

I have a job! Elinor managed to get me an interview with her company and they offered me the job on the spot. Yay! Thanks, Elinor!! Not only do I get a steady paycheck again, but I also get to work in the same department as Elinor. We don’t talk too in depth, (we are at work, after all,) but we do get the chance to catch up more often. Plus Elinor is an easy person to go to whenever I have questions.

I love my new coworkers too. While my friends at MTB will always hold a special place in my heart, this group is easy to get along with and welcomed me with open arms.

Literally. Someone gave me a hug on my first day.

There is one major con to working there though. Everyone brings in treats all the time. Seriously, everyday there is junk food being passed around our department. So far, I’ve seen hard candies, chocolate, donuts, ice cream sandwiches, ice cream pints, popsicles and every type of salty snack food you can imagine. Someone goes to QT everyday for soda runs and more than one person picks up lunch from a variety of restaurants in the area. My will power is tested Every. Single. Day.

On the plus side, fountain soda is my favorite thing in the world. The fact that my coworkers are all as obsessed as I am just means that I’ve found the perfect work place.

Mmm…Diet Coke with crushed ice…

I am proud to announce that we have switched out our recycle and trash bins. The larger ones used to be for trash and the smaller ones for recycling, but we’ve found that we are recycling much more than we’re throwing away. Every once in awhile, I see that Dan has tossed something that can be recycled. I always take the opportunity to point this out to him. (You’re welcome, Husband.)

Dan: I get confused sometimes! Some boxes are recyclable, while others aren’t. Some envelopes have to be taken apart before they can be recycled. It was so much easier in PA. You had three bins, one each for plastic, paper and glass. Everything went into those and you didn’t have to worry about rules.
Me: It’s even easier here! You just dump it all in one large container. They probably had the same rules but you didn’t pay attention to them. They probably had to sort through and pull out the unrecyclable items themselves.
Dan: Maybe so, but it was so much easier back then.
Me: It was only easier because you didn’t have a wife nagging you about recycling correctly.
Dan: Ah, so that was my downfall. Getting married.

I love you too.