Turning Point

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Lots of meanings behind that but there are certain days in your life when a big change happens and it does alter the course of your life. Today was clearly such a day for me as it was my last official day at my old job. Even though I hadn’t been really active for the last couple of months, today was turn in your badge and computer day and it marked the final step in closing that chapter in my life.

It was a little more emotional than I expected walking around the building and saying goodbyes to people I hadn’t really talked to since getting the news. There were a few hugs – some from unexpected places. I hadn’t planned on doing one of those cheesy goodbye emails but I ended up doing one anyway just because I don’t want to totally slam the door on the place. Had a few people already respond. Plus some promises for lunches in the future.

The most common theme was people telling me how much I’ll be missed. That was good for the ego although it isn’t entirely true. I know there will be those awkward moments when people need to know something and when they would normally ask me for the answer. They’ll be a little lost at first but will eventually find the answer or just make up something new and move on. It is the nature of the business world. The sad but true fact is that people are expendable.

But what it also symbolized is that I had an impact in my many years there. For what it’s worth, I find that to be important. The other thing I heard a lot was how much people enjoyed working with me. And let’s be honest, you run into a lot of a-holes at work and in life. I guess it is nice to know that so many people saw you as a good person when that it really the goal I was trying for. Maybe nice guys don’t always finish last.

Most of the team went out for lunch after turning in their stuff. We have plans to meet up again later this summer. It may be hard to keep getting together but we’ve been through a lot as a group and that does create some bonds. Its funny but I listen to some sports radio and a lot of retired players talk about missing the camaraderie and I can see that now. If you’re like me, you don’t get particularly close to a lot of people but you’ve all been through the same fires and pressure and when you work towards a common goal and achieve it, then it does create some nice bonds. I won’t miss the “leadership” from the top but I’ll miss working with the people.

Now that one chapter is closed, there are still many paths I can take and things that can be done. I do need to figure one out because decision by indecision isn’t a good option. To be clear, I don’t need to work. If I do, it will be because I find something that speaks to my values and offers me a chance to do something productive and meaningful. Or something just a bit mindless and fun.

One last little note on one of my favorite subjects of the universe sending messages. Right about dinnertime, I looked out the window and there was a fox underneath the feeder eating peanut scraps in the place where our raccoons usually are. Actually had a raccoon come out from under the deck and the fox tried to ignore the raccoon but the raccoon was the aggressive one and sort of chased the fox away. We’ve never had a fox in our yard before – or to say it another way, I’ve never seen a fox in our yard before.

So I learned that foxes are actually omnivores and will eat nuts and fruits which explains why he was eating peanuts. I thought they were strictly carnivores but that is not the case. And, raccoons are typically not on their meal plan unless it is a baby so there probably isn’t any real danger to the raccoons from having a fox around. Might be more of an issue for the squirrels and chipmunks though.

Then I decided just to look up symbolic meanings of seeing a fox. Yes, I know that sometimes a fox is just a fox. But seeing a fox for the first time on my last day at work just seemed a bit coincidental. Of course, there are lots of websites that discuss symbolism and they don’t all agree so you might find something else but one suggested that seeing a fox gives you the wisdom to find the best solution to some current problem or issue. It also said that it is good luck when a fox crosses your path. So that seems like a good thing. If you believe in animal symbolism. I’m not saying I do but there are things we don’t know so I’m not ruling it out either. It could be good luck or it could be nothing.