A bittersweet goodbye

On Wednesday of this week, I gave my boss two weeks notice: We are headed north. I was so anxious to tell my boss that all I ate for a whole day was less than a toddler eats for breakfast - if only my anxiety helped me keep this supermodel figure, haha. But when I told her, she was gracious and congratulatory and so supportive and sweet. It seemed like she had already heard about me leaving, which is possible since she was probably the last to know. I've been preparing my peeps for weeks because I knew if I only had two weeks to say goodbye to them, I would be a mess.

Boss asked me if I'd like to tell the other staff in our department and I may as well have told 10 barn owls I was leaving. Blink. Blink. Blink. One person said congrats, one asked when I was leaving and one asked if I'd still be able to help at an event I'd committed to working (that falls on my last day). To say they made it easy to depart is an understatement. Ah, my little island of misfit toys.

But of course then there are my steadfast friends, both at work and outside of work, who will be very hard to leave. One of my work friends, when I told her I'd made a decision, looked up, eyes filled with tears, and asked "but who will I talk to?" Another started absolutely weeping. I was able to hold it together for them because I know, when I'm back in town, I will see them and that they will email me, send cards etc. I'm not worried about saying goodbye to my friends because it's only goodbye for a minute. We're looking for a 3-bedroom so we can host all the damn time.

It wasn't until yesterday afternoon that I even got teary about leaving. I had to tell all the agencies that I work with that I'm leaving (and so far, I've only told like 15 of the 50), and the emails I got back are incredible. I think I'd assumed that the work I was doing was making a difference but holy cow, I am overwhelmed and my heart is very, very full. I'm honestly afraid I'm going to cry at the workshop I'm hosting next week having to say goodbye to my other agencies.