On Getting a Job

I'm sitting across from Mr. Boyfriend at a sushi restaurant
He's talking about a new car,
budgeting the money I make,
going to New Zealand.
This is not the moment for such thoughts

You don't understand, man
This is not about my new found finances
This about me being able to buy q-tips
About not selling my textbooks for money
or my new black chair or my computer speakers.
No more desperation.

This is victory
This is proof to my parents that, yes
engineering is a viable career.
This is proof to myself,
that yes,
the bachelors, the masters is not a waste.
The move to Colorado was brave,
not foolish,
something I put myself in doubt of often.

More importantly,
this job is the fulfillment of a dream.
The culmination of many nights spent unslept
The gathering of my greatest and best friends;
The midnight meetings before a test,
the snacks, the mysterious leg drawings,
the failures and the triumphs of being in engineering school,
wearing your heart on your sleeve
and your TI-83.

I just got a job, I get to stay in Colorado, I get to be an engineer
and life is great.