It doesn't matter what you gather around

It seems like not too long ago I was venturing off to New York to start a new chapter of my life. I gave up a job that I enjoyed, where I got paid actual money, to move to a place where I had no one and got paid almost nothing. I can't remember a time in my life when I was happier. People didn't understand why I did what I did; why I would give up being comfortable to do something so unheard of: volunteering. Living off of an extremely modest stipend is no joke when you are truly living off of that stipend...with no help...from anyone. I learned a lot from that experience.

• Money can't make me happy and I would rather be poor and happy than well off and miserable. (Ideally, both would be great; but let's not get in over our heads.)
• If I could live off of that much (or little) money, I could live off of almost any amount.
• People will mostly likely never understand and will question that decision because we live in a world where money is king.
• Material things aren't important. If I have to choose between buying something (like furniture) or going out with friends then I'm going to choose the latter.

This past week, I had the privilege of spending it in New York visiting friends and interviewing for a couple of teaching programs. It felt like I had never left! We all may be preparing for the next steps in our lives (aka getting real paying jobs and going to school), but we haven't forgotten the importance of what it means to have each other. People get busy, they grow up--get crap jobs, get great jobs, have kids, get married, get divorced, have accomplishments and failures--and sometimes these other things take precedence. Life happens, but true friends are there no matter what. And those are hard to find.

I never really understood what it meant to have so little and still have wealth until I moved to New York and met a wild group of people that would play such an important role in my life. In that short amount of time, I was reminded of the importance of having good people in your life. As I spent this past week bouncing between friends' homes, receiving a tremendous amount of help prep for my interviews, and being taken such good care of as I began to fall ill  I couldn't help but be grateful for the second family I had found.

Now, please forgive the abrupt transition, but this mini story is relevant.

A couple of Christmases ago, I had seen a Jack Daniel's advertisement on the train that I fell in love with. One of my best friends that I had made in New York gave me the bright idea of taking signs from the train. At the time I saw it there were too many people on the train to take it out of the thick plastic covering that held it in place. I ran between train carts to see if I could find one that was semi-empty, but I couldn't find the sign. After going out that New Years Eve, I saw the sign on my way home, but again the carts were packed (due to the fact that it was NYE). I rode several different trains until I found one that I could take. The sign said: It doesn't matter what you gather around so long as you do.

We never really had a lot while we were there. Apartments were unfurnished, we didn't go to fancy shmancy restaurants or bars, and we didn't have money to blow. It didn't matter that when people came to dinner at my apartment we sat on the floor and makeshift couches or that our utensils were plastic sporks. (Well, it may have mattered to some, but it really didn't matter once I reminded them of the free home cooked meal they were getting.) Furniture and material things don't make memories--people do. We had something money couldn't buy; we had each other and that was enough.