I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye

Two months ago, I got a call from a temp agency I had submitted my info to about an opportunity in my town. I tried not to laugh in his face when he said it was a job with a construction company, and while it was temporary, it had the potential to become permanent.

Construction? Me? No way could I be the right person for that. The money was low, but ultimately I decided to give it a whirl as it was literally 5 minutes from my home and the "temporary" part of the equation lined up perfectly with a job opportunity I had been pursing and was really hoping for.

I filled small gift bags with each colleague's favorite candy and attached a personalized "thank you" tag.

The first few weeks I still felt the job wasn't for me - the people were the nicest I'd ever worked with, but the work part was missing. I was often walking from office to office asking for work to do. I can't put my finger on when, but ultimately I found myself in a place where I was content - the work was available and enough.

Then the e-mail came. The offer I'd been waiting for since before Thanksgiving was mine - the "career" I'd been seeking in my field since I graduated college three years prior. I was ecstatic yet actually sad to take the job and report to my newfound work family that I couldn't stay.

I'm a "goodbye and good riddance" kinda girl - being reliable/responsible seems to be a curse as people are quick to take advantage of you and even quicker to screw you over. In the past I've left jobs when the timing is appropriate or when that happens or when timing dictated I needed to change.

So, for the first time, I said a bittersweet goodbye to a company and group of people I've come to love. The kind of people who stop what they're doing to help. The kind who say "we want you to stay but we understand and we're excited for you." The kind who work hard and still have fun doing it. The kind who do this on your last day:

I put together tiny gifts for everyone to say goodbye and to be sure the point was driven home that my departure was in no way against the company or anyone there. As I wrote each tag out, a shocking fact occurred to me:

There is no one in this office who I don't like.

Think about that for a minute. I'm 28 years old and I've never been able to say that about a workplace. What about you? In most cases, there's always that one clique or that one person whose absence would make the job so much more pleasant. Not here. 

This time was a blessing, this new opportunity is a blessing...and so many more blessings were sprinkled throughout all of this.