With Grace

Chapter 2 - Grace

"Mom, I've got to go. My flight's boarding." I laughed as she pulled me in for yet another hug. It was like I was going away to college for the first time when in reality that was four years ago and I was actually moving to New York.

"Eat well. Don't forget to call me every Sunday. If you need any help, we're here. We'll catch the next flight to New York." She recited, holding each of my arms to my side.

"When have I ever asked for help?" I tilted my head and gave my parents a small smile.

"It's there if you need it, remember." She said, letting my arms so I could pick up my hand luggage.

"I will, I promise but I have an amazing job waiting for me and an excellent boss so stop worrying." I explained. She just nodded with tears in her eyes. My dad told me that night before that she was struggling with the fact her only daughter was leaving to make a life for herself in the big city. He was extremely proud of me even making the jump to city life from our small town in Indiana. He only wanted me to be successful and happy.

"They're calling your flight, sweetheart." He told me, patting my shoulder.

"I'd better be going then." I smiled, sadly. I hugged my dad tightly, not letting the tears escape, then kissed my mom on the cheek before turning and walking off before they saw the tears falling down my face.

I was excited for the new opportunities that a big city like New York could hold for me and I couldn't wish for a better job to start out my time, especially in the highly competitive business sector but I was always going to have that niggling feeling in the back of my mind that I should be doing something else.

While I majored in business, I minored in education, volunteering at a local elementary school during my spare time. If I had no expectations on my shoulders, I would be a teacher to the unfortunate anywhere that needed me but my dad had always struggled to provide for us as a contractor and wanted me to be the success story he could tell the family about so I did all I could to make that a reality. I had a natural affinity for business, graduating Magna Cum Laude from Cornell, so I was at least going to give it ago.

We were near to my gate so it didn't take me long to find my one-way seat in economy and I quickly sat down, shaking.

It wasn't that I didn't want to work in a big corporation, I actually found it quite thrilling to see the inner workings of the hive-like world and how fast everything went through, I just felt my calling was elsewhere. My career's advisor had called it a waste of my time to teach young children when I had so much potential in a place like New York. So, I told myself that I would at least give it a go before writing it off as not for me.

My main hope was that I'd find at least one friend in the city. I don't think I could survive a place like New York without someone to show me the ropes. I had my friends from college. Lian was my best friend as we were dormmates for the first two years and then shared an apartment for the final two years. She was always happy and enthusiastic about everything; even her astrophysics course which I would never be able to get my head around. The main reason we got along was that neither of us had the need to go to house parties and get drunk. We always had a bottle of wine in the refrigerator and liked to think of ourselves as connoisseurs but that was when our little group would come over in the evening as our apartment was the biggest. Lian's parents were very successful in China so she could afford it but I paid my dues as well.

She backed me in anything as long as I had a smile on my face but I was sad when we graduated that I wouldn't witness her joyful outlook every day. It wasn't like she was going to be close by either because she'd gone to Caltech to continue her studies now her abilities were proven to top many others.

She'd supported me in the move and promised to visit me at spring break which I was already planning for. She was the one that calmed me enough when I'd even got a job interview at Montgomery Corps. I'd said for the past two years that, if I was going to work in business, I wanted to work there and now I was on a plane to start my job on Monday, in a city I knew nothing about with no one there to catch me if everything went wrong.