Here’s to Change

Today was an emotional day as both Tyler and I said goodbye for different reasons but in order to move forward in life.  It seems like this week and next are pretty much a life changing time in both of our lives! 

Tyler has been so excited about kindergarten since last year, but I think it finally hit him yesterday that leaving preschool means leaving his friends behind.  In the car yesterday, I mentioned how I was sad that I was leaving my friends that I had known for a long time.  All of a sudden, he started bawling which threw me for a loop!  I think it was then that it clicked with him.  So, of course we cried together driving down the road.  I’m sure we were a sight!

This morning we took our gifts and cards to Tyler’s teachers and took some pictures.  We will really miss Ms. Lori and Ms. Darleshia.  It’s amazing to think of where he was at the beginning of the school year---throwing temper tantrum fits when he got in trouble.  They  have turned our little boy into a semi-behaved kindergartener :)

It’s amazing how we’ve gone from this

…to this in a year

As for me?  Leaving Duke is a bittersweet feeling.  When I came 7 1/2 years ago, I didn’t really know what the future held for me.  As I sorted through my paperwork this week, I came across my HR papers from when I started as a temp.  I started in 2004 as a Staff Assistant making $13/hr and left today as a Business Development Associate making quite a bit more than that.  As much as the work was stressful and very unlike anything I saw myself doing, I have met some wonderful people over the years.  And not only did I meet wonderful co-workers, but I have worked with world-renowned clinical researchers.  As I gave my resignation and the news trickled through the organization, I was floored at the response I received from faculty and staff.  It’s nice to know that I was viewed as a patient worker because internally I never felt I was! ;) The management I’ve worked for  has been so supportive of my growth, and I hope that moving forward I find that same support. 

Leaving today, it also hit that I was leaving my best friend who I sit aross the aisle from five days a week—the same friend that got me a job at Duke.  She is so good at her job and has always been someone who I could turn to professionally and personally to help me at work.  I will truly miss working with Taylor.  Luckily, when I make big changes I take baby steps.  So, I will literally only be three blocks down the road from DCRI. If I need a Taylor fix, I can walk five minutes up the road!

It’s time to retire the Duke badge that once was new and now is curled up and faded.  It’s time to turn in my laptop, corporate card, cell phone, and parking tag.  And, it’s time to say goodbye to the modern chic building and downtown Durham view.  But, it’s time to say hello to a new stage in my life that will hopefully serve as a better fit for my family and I. 

So, here’s to change.  I think Tyler and I are going to be just fine.