Thus ends the Live Oak era

I have four baskets of stuff in the back of my car today. Apparently I'd accumulated a lot of my stuff at work; those four baskets don't even count the five baskets of things I had brought home several weeks ago. (That reminds me...Peter, do you want your Sega games back? :)) Seriously, though...I had nine baskets of miscellanies at the office; there was (and still is) a good deal of myself invested in that place.

But it's done. I had my last day. Two years, two months, an office, and about twenty-five wonderful new friends (and two existing ones) later, I am again going to something new. And this was, without question, the most difficult exit I have ever made from anything I have ever invested myself in thus far in my life. Shaking hands with Andy and Phil in the office and hugging Tracy all made me nearly cry.

I started packing my stuff up around 3:00, and Daniel and I had gotten everything packed by 3:15 or so. Daniel, Phil, and Erin helped move everything down to my car. It was a silent transfer of materials; not a word was said leaving the office and packing my stuff. We then came back up to get Erin's, and I sat down, emotionally worn from the last two days. Phil made me think about other things; he was talking about his grandmother (now, still alive, over 100 years old) and some editing she had done for an accounting book. The story was interesting and one I hadn't heard Phil tell before (most of his stories I've heard several times by now). It made Erin smile and laugh several times.

Finally, it was time to swallow hard and actually leave. I picked up Erin's monitor and she picked up her keyboard and mouse, and we walked downstairs; Daniel and Phil followed both of us out. We loaded everything in my car, and Phil told Erin what a joy it had been to see her smiling face every day. That may have been the first time I'd smiled the entire day, to be honest. He then asked to talk to me for a moment, and gave me one of the nicest compliments I think I've ever received. He said that, many years ago, he'd served in the air force under a commanding officer for whom he truly respected and was honored to serve with, and gave a couple of short anecdotes. He said, "I'm in my forties, and since then, I've seen very few people like that...but you are one of the few people I can truly say I've been honored to work with." I thought I was going to burst into tears. We shook hands and promised each other that we'd remain friends.

What followed were what, for me, were some of the hardest few hours seconds of my life. Phil turned and began to walk back to the office, Erin was sitting in my car, waiting to be driven back to her apartment, and I froze at my car door, looking at the building. I watched as Phil walked back into the office and Daniel drove off to go to a doctor's appointment. I knew that Erin was sitting in my car waiting to go, and I couldn't move. A thousand thoughts went through my head: joys, regrets, memories, smiles, and heartbreaks, all at once. I stood there for a moment that felt like years.

Finally, I got in my car, looked over and smiled at Erin. She had a new job as of this morning thanks to Peter; she would be fine. I'd done everything I possibly could; I helped make at least some wrongs right again. I drove off, probably a bit slower than I usually do when I take Erin home. We unloaded her things, stopped to say hello to and pet her cat Coconut, and then I gave her a hug, and we exchanged final pleasantries to end our second stint as co-workers together.

And then I went home.

Thus ends the Live Oak era: March 2006 - April 2008