Nostalgia

Today is my last real day of work. It feels so weird to type that. Like I don't quite believe it myself. Yet, here I am, sitting in my almost empty office, working on a massive memo to my as-yet-unnamed replacement. It's a very, very weird feeling.

Have I mentioned before that today also happens to be the 3 year anniversary of the day I started this job? I don't think so. How coincidental is that? Three years EXACTLY since I walked in this office as a real employee for the first time. Back then I had a cube, an ancient computer, and a tiny little office plant my boss gave me as a welcome gift. Today I have an office, a slightly less ancient computer, and that tiny office plant has gotten HUGE. I've actually had to prune it a few times to keep it from taking over my desk.

So many things have changed in the last three years. J and I were engaged when I started here, and now we've been married for almost three years. We weren't homeowners yet, and I was still planning to go back to school to become a librarian after working here for a year (HA!). I spent most of the first summer I lived in Washington massively homesick for Salt Lake, and used to enviously look at women on the subway who had suitcases with them, wishing I was getting on an airplane too. Now I'm already feeling homesick for Washington, and I save my envious glaces for women who are obviously pregnant. Things certainly do change in three years.

And yet, so many things stay the same. I'll still be coming in Monday morning to orient a new intern, and I'll telecommute part time until they find a replacement. So I'm leaving, but not really.

Regardless, this is the end of an era. It's the end of my first honest-to-goodness adult job, and of some pretty amazing years of my life. It's also the start of a new chapter in my life, and I can't wait to see what happens next.