i got a promotion

a very long time ago, i waited tables in chicago and took the train and busses everywhere. then, a few months before i left chicago to go to graduate school, i got a car. all of a sudden i had my own private room that could go anywhere, any time i wanted. even though in many ways my life had not (yet) improved, it was like i got some kind of existential promotion, by virtue of the fact that i had so much control over where i was and the company i could keep getting to and fro.

recently, i got another existential promotion. as i was putting clothes into the closet of my new house, i found that i had disorienting feelings of self-worth. what-ho! i was standing up straight and my clothes were at eye level! my old house was very tiny with odd proportions, and very old, so that the ceilings were low and storage not meant to accommodate today's modern woman. so every time i retrieved anything or put anything away (less often), i was hunched or bent over. but now? now, i boldly stand, head held high, putting things away (for now), as though it were only natural, and as though i am, at last, somebody.