how do i say goodbye

Today I spent the day at work, er, my old work. I cleaned out my cube, packed up my 10 pair of shoes and four sweaters, remembered the cds I had stashed in the bottom drawer, and made sure to leave a Book of Mormon in the top one.

I said goodbye to the students on my committee and wished them luck as they are about to enter the world of business, which is a different world from the one they planned on a few years ago. I went to lunch with my colleagues and got a little choked up when they gave me a necklace and a gift card.

I had about 5 phone interviews for this job when I was in Utah. After we moved, they called me in for a face to face interview, and I started a few weeks later. It quickly became apparent that the job I was hired to do (which was a new position) wasn't working out like they had imagined. Luckily, it was the actual job that was the problem, and not me, so I was given the opportunity to work on other projects, with other departments, and kind of piece together the job I wanted. A year later, I was given a pretty sweet promotion. The opportunities I had were quite amazing. I was able to work with some of the best students at Wharton, and meet some pretty amazing people like Admiral Mike Mullen, Steve Ballmer, Dave Checketts (the man that started Junior Jazz, what up!), Kevin Roberts, Anne Sweeney, Gareth Penny, and many more. And even more amazing than that, I actually learned who these people were!

I entered the business world with zero knowledge on the subject, and I am leaving with slightly more than zero. While it was stressful and drama filled and not for me any longer, I am grateful for the lessons I learned, the connections I made (if I learned nothing else, I do know that it is all about the connections) and the friends I've grown close to.

I feel like breaking into a song or something, maybe a little "It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday"... but then I remember that I can do whatever I want tomorrow, and it's not so hard to say goodbye afterall.