… which is how I have decided the jump from The Commercial Appeal to St. Mary’s, three months in, should really be described. It’s definitely not a bad thing, not at all. I was thrilled to be going to St. Mary’s, and I am really enjoying my new work there.

But I completely underestimated the enormous change I was bringing on myself. Not just a new office with new co-workers, some of whom had decided they were moving on long before I walked in the door. So there’s hiring to think about. It’s also a completely new field for me (development/fundraising), overlaid with a school culture I’ve never seen before, and don’t really know well, even from a distance. As one of my pals who went to a private girls’ school in town said after I saw my first St. Mary’s graduation: “You just don’t have any kind of framework to put this into, do you?” No, I really don’t.

Nevertheless, as I expect explorers do, I wake up every morning excited to see what kinds of things will float past me in space today. I am anxious much of the time, not so much about making a mistake as missing something completely. Like a space explorer, I count on those around me to keep me safe. So far so good. But I am far away from anything like my comfort zone, which is more unsettling than I’d like to admit.

I’ve always been one of those people who thinks of herself as a bold risktaker, confident, ready for anything. Now that I actually have to be that person every day, it’s much more difficult than I remember.

So stay tuned as Sally Ride checks in from time to time. I have neglected this blog shamefully, and never meant to be away so long. I miss my doing own writing, and I miss talking to readers, whether they read me in the newspaper or online.

I’ll try to be better. Let me know how I’m doing.