When one door closes, another one opens...

My office...before I started packing up

My final days at the CCC were much harder than I originally anticipated. While there was little sadness regarding leaving the actual work, leaving the people I've spent so much time with over the last year and a half was tougher than I ever dreamed.

Josh, Rachel and me at Gala '08

My final week was filled with thoughtful celebrations. Tuesday the "old CCC gang" ate lunch together (not because I was leaving, but for old time's sake) and it was really nice to catch up. They were the original team, the reason I ever came back to the CCC to begin with. Thursday Rachel and Josh took me to a fun lunch at Taziki's where they gave me this awesome print-out of all of my "favorite things" (Obama and the color purple being the most obvious) and very sweet cards (insert tears here). It was after that lunch that I realized I wasn't dealing with the transition as well as I'd hoped. How was I going to make it without these people that I'd come to rely so heavily upon? Friday was much of the same--discussions about fun memories and thoughts of what the days ahead would hold. The whole office took me to lunch at John's and it was nice to have everybody together again, one last time. I managed okay until it was time to leave. Rachel, Josh and I walked out just as normal and everything was fine until that moment. The one where I realized this entire chapter in my life was coming to a close and I would no longer have this familiarity and comfort. Rachel and I cried (I cried the whole way home), but I'm reassured that although we won't work together anymore, we'll always be friends. You don't meet people like her very often, and I' so grateful for the friendship we've built.

Now it's time for another chapter to begin--one with much less certainty and a whole new list of characters. Tomorrow should be a fun day--or at least an educational one. I can't wait to see what's in store!