With this or this playing in the background. 🙂
They say starting a new job is one of the most stressful things a person goes through. I disagree on a technicality. It’s not the new job that kills you; it’s the letting go of the old one that’s difficult.
If asked, I could provide a litany of reasons why it is time for me to leave my current place, but no silly requests, stupid rules or outlandish complaints can break my work ethic. I think I put on a good show this week and will close up shop properly in my last five days. Do you know how hard this is to do when you honestly don’t give a rip?
I’m exhausted. It’s been a long week of trying to please everyone while I took it all in one last time. It made my decision clear, but the goodbyes are still hard. I’m assuming I will see the Milwaukee-based coworkers, but I’m not sure about my members spread across North America – the father figures of the board, the gaggle of drinking buddies, and my original members of the “Anti-Old F#ck Club”.
The AOF are my fellow young pups who taught me how to drink with the guys (no shots, just bottled beer and never, ever try to keep up) and who kept me up until all hours of the night talking about the meaning of life on an abandoned ski lift in Vail, a homemade pool bar in Phoenix, and the streets of Hilton Head as Jesse’s iPhone once again got us hopelessly lost.
It breaks my heart to think that I won’t see them again. We say we’ll keep in touch. Who knows? With the advent of social media, perhaps we will, but I know better than to count on it.
In case this prophecy comes true and I never get a chance to tell you in person, y’all have meant the world to me, AHTD friends. You have taught me so much both personally and professionally. You have enriched my life and I hope we don’t have so many miles between us in the next one. I heart you and your “Party in the USA” ways.
It looks like my exhaustion is creeping into melancholy and this plane bound for Milwaukee isn’t even over Illinois yet. Hopefully this will disappear with a Sunday afternoon nap and the excitement of my new role. I’ll be doing a lot of work with volunteers again, so maybe I can make a new group of work buddies. I sure hope so.
