A Hop, Skip, and a Jump — and a Bridge Tunnel

One of the perks of working at William & Mary is the lack of commute.  Given that Williamsburg is a smaller city, most William & Mary faculty and staff have a 5-10 minute commute to work that likely includes a few traffic lights but very little traffic.  Me, not so much.  I live in Virginia Beach, 48.6 miles from my office’s parking lot.  On my way to and from work I pass five other universities, three community colleges, four cities, one county, two rivers, one bay, 21 interstate exits, thousands of other commuters, and one annoying bridge tunnel.  Once the commute took me only 40 minutes, once it took me 3.5 hours.  Every time my colleagues make the drive to Virginia Beach, or any time my commute takes me an insane amount of time my colleagues remind me that they think I’m nuts.  When they question my decision to continue working at William & Mary I tell them that even though W&M isn’t literally in my backyard, it has been my figurative backyard for over a decade.

Since arriving on William & Mary’s campus in August of 1999, I have lived in 8 different homes (four residence halls, two apartments, and two houses).  I have worked at five separate jobs (including summer jobs and internships).  I’ve had three cars, five cats, three jobs titles, and 10 roommates.  The one thing that has been constant has been W&M.  When I was a student and living on campus it was literally my home.  When I gained employment at W&M it became my professional home (and given the long hours we work it sometimes feels like my home away from home).  When I took stock of my closest friends and realized that I met most of them through W&M it became my memory’s home.  When I met and married my husband (a W&M grad) it became the home (i.e. the origin) of my family.  This place is my rock, it’s my constant source of all things good in my life, it’s my home.

So when people question why I commute like a maniac when I pass 7 other institutions at which I could do the job I have at W&M I reply that actually, I get to work at home.  How great is that?

– Wendy Livingston