Chapter Next

I'm sitting on my couch, surrounded by boxes and bags of stuff brought home from my office of 15 years. Books, mostly, and papers. Like I really need more books in my house. Or papers. Some of this I'll no doubt discard. I'll just have to find homes for the rest.

I never blogged about my work, for a number of reasons. First. you can get fired for that. Second, I blog anonymously (up to a point), and it would have been too easy to identify me if I talked about my work in any great detail.

Third, and most importantly...I didn't want to.

I mean, I was at work for enough hours of my life. Why would I feel compelled to write about it too?

Now that it's over, this big chunk of my life, maybe I'll feel like writing about it some day. Not yet though.

I will say that when I walked out the door on Friday, I left happy. I left feeling proud of the work that I did, what I accomplished, the goodwill I accumulated (if praise were money, I really could retire). Heck, I even feel like I left a legacy of sorts. The work I did will continue; the department that so many labored to build over the decades of its existence survives, and I hope flourishes, in good hands.

So, that's my big brag. Funny, it's the first time I've ever felt so free to brag about something I've done, now that it's over, and I'm no longer doing it.

I can't say that this change hasn't sunk in. I was ready to go. It was surprisingly easy to walk out that door. No big emotions, no tears, no regrets.

Everybody asks me what I'm going to do next. I tell them I'm planning to relax. Exercise. Write. Maybe go to China for an extended period next year, so I can really work on my Chinese, finally. Sell my house? Maybe. i'd like to keep it if I can, but if I can't, I'll try to let go with as little angst as possible.

We'll see.