Farewell to the Bay

Just one week ago, I walked away from the blue-glass building of my job and said “hello” to the first day of a new life, as my friend so eloquently put it.


It was with mixed feelings that I headed to the parking lot and drove the route home for the last time.  I took a few deep breaths and reflected on many things as I wound my way among the slow-poke drivers and crazy-people-who-don't-know-how-to-merge.  The last two years spent at my company and with my co-workers was time well spent.  I made many new friends, who laughed and struggled together, learning much in the way of work and in life from them.  I can't say I was jumping-for-joy to leave this behind, but I do think now is the time for change in my life.  By the time I arrived home, I had reaffirmed my resolve and was ready to hold the fun times we had close at heart while looking forward to the next challenge abroad.   

That adventure, however, is still a little under 3 weeks away…. First of all, I needed to move out of my apartment and that was a monumental task, believe it or not.  I am very much a last-minute-packer (understatement of the year, I swear).  No matter how many lists or plans I can make, nothing will actually make me act on them until I’m under the pressure of time. So, when Tuesday came and my mother’s arrival less than an hour away, I was still only 75% packed.  Granted, I had some unexpected bumps in my schedule that day due to the dentist (an appointment being rescheduled and extended, then difficulties in the procedures, and the final result with 80% of my mouth numb so I couldn’t eat for 4-5 hours – sigh, I really hate going to the dentist).

This is my apartment on Tuesday, less than 24 hours before our departure on Wednesday.
 

 

Even after my mother came, I didn’t really get into gear packing until after dinner.  I told her friend, much to his skepticism, that I’d be done before midnight.  Once the pressure was on, I was getting rid of things left and right, while packing others.  I’m grateful my mother even sat down and shredded a big bag of paper for me.  She was shaking her head at me the whole time, disbelieving how I still had documents from college time that I never got around to shredding.  She was a trooper though, and after a few comments, just sat and did the work – thanks Mom! 

Wiley chipped in as well – making sure this bag was empty, he checked every corner.  And, helping to straighten this quilt… he’s so fast at attacking every wrinkle as soon as it appeared.  Every box and basket contained his fluff at one point or another.

We were all packed up and ready to go before noon on Wednesday, just as planned!

  

10 hours and several stops later, we finally arrived at my mother’s house in Santa Clarita.  It was such a long and exhausting day.  I hadn’t had more than 6-8 hours sleep in the last 2 days, then sitting in a car driving down a boring highway for hours on end was horrible.  I was so happy to finally eat some hot food and shower before crashing for some much needed sleep. 

The kitty made it through the journey just fine… he’s settling in at his new home, exploring every nook and cranny, finding all the comfy places to spend his days sleeping.

 

Before I left, I had two farewell parties with friends.  The first was held last Saturday with my mostly-former-EY friends, granted 2-3 are still toiling away under partner pressures and struggling with incompetent staff and seniors (hang in there!).  Time really flies by when good friends and good food are present… and so, 7 hours quickly passed.  I still marvel at the fact our initial plans for potluck dinner and chit-chat turned into such a long time together.   Thanks everyone for coming, both those local, out of town, and even out of state!

 

  
As for party number 2, we had a much smaller group, but no less the amount of fun and good times.  We watched some TV featuring super cute kitties, puppies, and one unique little goat, ate some snacks and finally played Apples to Apples.  We didn’t play to win, as we enjoyed the surprising decisions each of us made (yes, “whips” can be considered “luxurious” and no, “Japanese” is not a place).  At the end, we each picked 3 cards for each other that represented the person.  I had a great time and was only sad we hadn’t done more events like this sooner.

     

Now, in the last few days, I've just been relaxing and lazying around.  It's been great and I've really calmed down to a lot of things which have been causing me stress in the last few weeks.   Then again, things will pick up in the next week as I get my visa application going and visit some more family.   But, in the mean time... I'm just kicking back with the kitty and enjoying the lack of anything pressing to do! 

 

Note - All photos may be viewed larger by double-clicking the slideshow to go to the flickr page it resides on.  Message me if you'd like a copy of any particular photo; I'm not sure you can download it from flickr.