Gone

Yeah, I've been gone for almost 2 months.  Not that I've been goofing off or anything and I certainly haven't been on vacation.  We have a graduation open house in exactly 7 days and I'm overwhelmed.  The to-do list doesn't seem to be getting anything crossed off and in fact, gets more added to it everyday. 

Yesterday was a really hard day for me.  I said goodbye to the people I've worked with for 25 years.  I'm starting a new job on Monday working at the same hospital, just a different department.  So its not like I won't ever see my old coworkers again, I just won't be working with them.  We've shared a lot over the past 25 years: marriages, deaths of spouses, children, etc.  So these women are a lot more like family than just people I work with.  One in particular, Kate, has become one of my best friends.  We both worked the exact same schedule for about 5 years so we got to know each other really well.  Our last day to work with each other was last Sunday, and I knew that all day long but I couldn't bring myself to mention anything about it to her, because I was afraid I would cry.  In fact, when I left that day, I just kind of casually said "see ya" like it was any other day.  And then when I got home I felt bad, like maybe she thought I didn't care.  So yesterday I bought a card and told her that I couldn't say goodbye on Sunday because I was going to cry, and that I would miss her terribly.  I left it in her locker. 

And then I cried all the way home from work.