three years later

Last night at nearly 11 p.m., after a long & sweaty event day, I went back to my office for the last time I'd call it mine. My pictures had been packed up, my updated desk manual had been submitted & my voicemail message had been changed. Instead of moving my dot to "out", I moved my name to the middle of the board & placed the coveted blue "vacation" dot underneath it. Until that moment, the emotions of saying goodbye hadn't hit.

It's nothing short of crazy that it is somehow three years later, & I am leaving this job. I was not planning on getting a job straight out of college. It was 2010 & no one was getting hired, especially not in the exact field they wanted to go into. I figured I had a slow summer of job applications & wedding planning in front of me. Instead, God opened all the windows & all the doors. I was told about this job opening by a friend from high school that I hadn't seen in years, but he had thought of me. The job was for a fulltime event coordinator of a large (& "wild"... cough) non-profit park. It wasn't part of my plan, but it would be crazy not to interview. I knew walking out of my first interview that they would hire me. I did not know that I would want to die trying to manage that first summer of events on top of planning an October wedding. It was awful, ha. But man-oh-man, did it make me strong.

I'm really terrible at goodbyes, & I always have been. I am so excited for what lies ahead, & there's a lot of stress that I'm not sad to be leaving behind. But I also have made some of the best of friends, had the silliest of moments on the most chaotic of event days, & learned invaluable lessons over the last three years. I know it's not really goodbye, & I know I still only live 8 minutes away. But there is a finality to closing your office door... My home away from home, really... for the last time. I am truly honored to have been working for the past three years for an organization that believed in the little blonde who wore a flower in her hair to her interview, two weeks before she graduated from college. It has been an experience that has filled my heart & head with all sorts of love & lessons. Thanks for believing in me.

& so, we are leaving for a grand vacation to the midwest for a wedding & family visiting for the first two weeks of July... & then? Well, I'm going to keep you waiting for that announcement. Sorry. Kinda ;) In the meantime, I'm putting my well-loved, event-day Sperry's in the back of the closet for a niiiiice, long break.