Going Corporate

It has been a long while since I have been downtown for a corporate meeting or a presentation.
Ever since I left my 8 to 5 job at a downtown firm, I left behind an entire lifestyle. Gone was the morning routine of settling in office, getting situated, brewing coffee, checking emails, schmoozing with co workers, exchanging sweet complaints about children and spouses, discussing the same routine with co workers day in and day out, occasional lunch outings, stepping out for cookies on those dreadfully long afternoons, going on Weightwatchers with a collegue, counting points, agonizing over clients who made constant design changes, rebooting of computers, network crashes, losing drawings, staff meetings, lunch meetings… the list is endless. As I look back there was such a comfort in that routine. During those times I was busy building my family, raising babies, decorating their nursery, watering the yard, hosting dinners, going for annual office parties; I even managed going to the gym.
As I reminisce about the good old days, I realize how very white-collared my life was. I had a predictable routine, known comfortable salary that automatically appeared in my bank, planned finances, allotted vacation time, very office type clothes in blacks, browns and beiges that blended in well with the stone, beige and gray buildings. Those were the corporate times in my life.
Then one fine day everything changed. It was completely unplanned, utterly spontaneous and absolutely senseless. As I left my office job in the red brick building, the colors in my life changed. The blacks slowly made way for the reds. Reds nails, red bags, red shoes… must be another phase. My new blue-collared profession took over my life as well as the family’s. The yard got neglected. Work took over weekends. Vacations stopped being paid leave. As we got busy with our mom and pop business, slowly but surely the corporate was slipping away.

Five years into this, I have no visible traces of my past life left. And then, today, out of nowhere, I had the opportunity to present before a VERY corporate accounting firm in a high profile downtown pocket. Unlike the past times, there was no design, no drawings involved. I had to present my food before this group of people, smartly dressed in their blacks and beiges with the hope that they would be prospective clients. After some thought about what would the expected attire be, I realized that I no longer own those clothes. Until last year they were stashed away in the dark closet I never visited. During one of those mega clean-up operations I had given them all away. Anyway, that’s not me currently. So I wore my colorful Indian clothes, dangling earrings, comfy footwear and went all corporate. Well, almost… As I had finished my shpeel in this super fancy conference room, and settled back into my chair, I noticed the lady across from me, throwing a quizzical glance at my tattoo. Just when I thought I was going corporate again, I retraced my steps back into my present.