I'm currently sitting in a hotel room in not far from the campus of Northwestern University thinking back on the day. I'm reminding myself, "I love myself, I love myself, I love myself."
The kids and I met early this morning and walked to a Greek restaurant, where we shared breakfast. Leisurely which was very nice. My kids are wonderful and they put up with the fact that I eat slowly.
But not too slowly. We'd decided to go to a feature length amime called "Your Name." For the past year it has been the number one movie in Japan. It was esy to see why, even having to read subtitles. The story was a Freaky Friday type story with a twist. Three of us were crying at the end. For me, this was amazing as I am not one of those that really enjoy animated films. This film was not only good, but creative. Something a bit different from the drivel Hollywood has been churning out.
We've arrived at our destination, safe and sound!
Happy to report in the 1,000 or so miles there were no incidents!
I'm sitting in a very nice Hilton Hotel in the wonderful state of Illinois. My room is nearly as opposite last night as you can imagine. Lots of room to walk around, a real size hotel bathroom and water that is both hot and cold! Shoot!
I've been able to catch up with my eldest son and my daughter and we've had Giordano's deep dish pizza. I behaved and had a single slice from a small pie.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Chicago deep dish pizza, it is exactly what it sounds like. It is a thick crust pizza and the pan the pizza is in has sides of about an inch and a half. The pie is then filled with all sorts of things including mozzarella and for us tonight, tomato sauce and a cornucopia of various meat toppings. It is usually served hot and stays that way for a good bit because it is so dense.
After pizza we went to a pretty cool comic book shop. Comix Revolution. It had all the comics you'd expect, plus a nice assortment of manga as well as some traditionally published books by icons such as Neil Gaiman. Some of you may not realize it, but you may be familiar with Gaiman's work if you saw the movie Coraline. That was his story.
We also uncovered a used book store that sells books by the pound. We all got something. The place had a lot of good lighting and a good customer base if what we saw was an indication.
We are close enough to C's former college that he is meeting up with some of his collegiate friends tonight for dinner at Denny's. It's good he'll be seeing some of his friends.
So we’ve seen the mother and father of the groom. We’ve also seen the brother of the groom and his girlfriend. So far that’s been it. One obvious missing entity. This is sad as it is his family.
I’m learning I can’t control, and shouldn’t even try to control situations like that. I cannot be responsible for another person’s choices and actions. All I can do is try to mitigate the damage done to people who don’t deserve the ill treatment, the people I care about. All I can do is love others as myself, and I do love myself in the most positive, non-selfish manner. Loving myself allows me to love others, and to take action on their behalf.
Only in loving and taking care of myself, can I love and take care of others. Today, it is protecting my loved ones. I’m heart sick they haven’t been contacted.
However, the lack of pertinent contact will not stop any of us from enjoying the evening with people we care about and celebrating the merging of two lives together in marriage.
The day promises to be beautiful. My family will look fantastic and share the generous amounts of love they each possess with the folks in attendance. We are looking forward to celebrating this day with a family that has meant a lot to us through the years.
You'd think that after walking out of building 3, I'd be filled with all things pithy.
I'm not.
That place hurt a lot of people. There is no justification for the way any of it was handled.
But now, we are on the new adventure.
Said good-bye today to my work family, and had some happy memories to share with people I've known for a very long time. It was odd clearing off my desk, saying good-bye and walking out the door for the final time.
I left just after 1:00 pm walking into bright sunlight. I wonder if that is some sort of omen. Went down to building 4 and I handed my passes and ID to the security guard on duty, a young man I'd never seen before. I didn't have to sign anything - just turn them in and then, that was that. Three and a half years just over.
The little boy came to work for about thirty minutes and made the ladies smile. He's such a friendly little guy.
Now I'm on to the next adventure.
Like so many others, I'm wondering what that will look like. There are so many possibilities. I'm working on a potential business plan; there are classes I can take to hone the service I'm thinking about delivering; and then there is the writing.
... and I just can't hide it!
Tomorrow is the day, the day I shake the dust off my shoes and walk out the United Health Group/Optum door. The day I am free of a company that doesn't live up to its own values!
WHOOT! I'm THRILLED!
Of course, I will miss my friends, many who were walked out the door nearly sixty days ago. The survivors of the first wave are being trimmed, and there is sure to be a third wave now that another company is involved. For those of you caught in this riptide, I'm so sorry. There are a lot of us who know your pain and we have 100% empathy with what you are going through.
Only a day and a half left of my career as a call quality analyst.
When we got the announcement on February 15th, this day seemed so far away. The intervening weeks have been slow and long.
Yet suddenly I find myself here saying good-bye to the colleagues I've laughed with, debated finer points with, supported finer points with. I've also taught with them, taught to them, been taught by them. We've supported one another through crush times, getting mock calls, mock chats completed and still meeting our monthly metrics. I was truly blessed to be on such an awesome team.
There are some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed. You know those days, everyone does. For whatever reason, right from the moment we awaken we have things go wrong, often things that have never gone wrong before.
We stub our toe, the car won't start, we're late to work, the boss is angry, we forget our lunch, we don't have supper together, we spill something greasy on our clothes.
Days like that we often think why did we even bother.
Other days we seem really aware of where we are, what we are doing, how to handle the problems that arise during a normal day. We seem to be in tune with ourselves and with what The Powers That Be (PTB) want for us.
Days like that we wish we had more often.
