Bittersweet Freedom

I will miss Nettie. There is no question about it. Yes, we will remain the best of friends. Yes we will see each other all the time. But not having her 8 floor away will kinda suck. We are each other's anchor and crutch. We take care of each other. We keep each other from going postal.

I will miss BFFM and our trips in the morning to get coffee.

I will miss all the wonderful people I met there.

I won't miss the politics. I won't miss the desperate struggle to stab co-workers in the back. I won't miss the gang pile of people who have given up everything else in their lives to get ahead.

It was a bittersweet last day. So weird to be closing a chapter in my life that seemed to take up so much of my life.

Nettie gave me a travel mug. It's fantastic. It's got a girl on it and she is surrounded by shoes. It says "It's not shopping, it's retail therapy" Funny thing is, I wanted a new travel mug because our old ones are looking a little gross. No matter how much I clean them, soak them, etc. they still have that old stale coffee smell.

Amy made me a tiny little pillow with pink flamingos stitched on it. She actually made me a cross stitch of pink flamingos for my collection. It is incredibly sweet. I love it. And I can't wait to set up my new office. There will be pink flamingos everywhere.

Ok, I interrupt this post to mention something on MPR right now. There is a new super bug ear infection. I can only guess that might be what I had. I had an ear infection for almost a year. Nothing I got from the doctors would clear it up. 9 kids in Rochester MN have had it and they couldn't clear these infections up. Oh, gross, to test for it they have to insert a needle in the ear drum. Alright,, good thing it cleared up on it's own. Grant you it SUCKED to have an ear infection for a year. But that would explain why I couldn't get it to go away. I'm not a hypochondriac, honestly, it just makes sense. My doctor was totally baffled as to why we couldn't get it to clear up. This would explain it. They reported that none of the usual antibiotics could clear it up. They had to use a super high dose to get rid of it.

Oh god no, they are going to go live to the Bush conference in a while. NOOOOOO - I won't ruin a perfectly good day by having to listen to Commander Coo-Coo Bananas.

Back to the normal post:

So, ultimately yesterday was really nice. I went to lunch with three girls I worked with in my sales group. We went to a wonderful Thai place. Ok, it took them an hour to bring us our food but it was damn tasty.

When I finally headed for home it was weird to know that I would never be going back.

Well, except for meeting BFFNettie for lunch and stuff.

I took the bus home. I gave the super wonderful bus driver lady Pat a card with a gift certificate to Target in it. The card said "Thank You for being such a sunny and delightful person" and it had a big yellow sun on it. It was the perfect card for someone as wonderfully sweet as she is.

She opened it while she was driving. I didn't think she would do that. And while she was opening it I could hear her

Pat: "Oh, oh what is this? Oh my goodness"
Pat: "DID YOU MAKE THIS CARD?" she yells to the back of the bus
Newt: "No, I don't think I could have made one that perfectly expresses who you are"
Pat: Oh, THANK YOU SO MUCH THAT WAS SO NICE, I"M GOING TO KEEP THIS FOREVER!"

When I got off the bus we said good-bye and she said she would miss me. I told her I wish I could take her with me and if she ever wanted to drive an express SSP to Minnetonka I would be her most loyal rider.

So there you have it. Once chapter closed. And I am looking very forward to the new one opening. I can't wait.

It's a little weird that I can't wait to go to work.....................................