The End of an Era

This has been eventful year, at work and life in general.  But today we're going to focus on events at work.  A little over a year ago I moved into a new building that my company had built.   That came with some adjustment, but for the most part was working quite well.  Then there was a pandemic.  My company decided that as many people as possible should start working from home and suddenly, I had moved my workstation from the brand new office building to my basement.  At that time, we had no idea how long that was going to last.  As it turned out, the pandemic has lasted for months and is not over yet.

When the pandemic began I was several months away from retirement.  As it continued I began to wonder if it would last so long that I would end up retiring from home. And that is how it turned out.  So, after all these years, the day arrived.  Just like when I moved to work from home, I packed up my stuff and got ready to haul it back to the office.

All I really had brought home was my computer desk set-up and my chair.  So packing didn't take very long.

Then I hauled it up the stairs and loaded it up into the car.  I drove to work and took everything in.  Then it was time to clean out all the stuff I had left at the office.

The part I miscalculated on was packing up all my stuff at work.  After having just moved a year before, I had already reduced what I had at my desk by quite a bit.  But there was still more than I remembered.  After moving into the new building I had thought I would gradually bring stuff home as the final day approached but the pandemic kind of changed that.  So, as it turned out, I had thought I would just stick everything in the tub I had used to bring my computer and monitor in but it didn't hold it all.  It was close, but about a third of the space I needed short.  Fortunately, in the back of one of my drawers I had a bunch of plastic grocery bags.  So I filled two of them and that took care of it.

Then it was time to walk out of the building for the last time.  That felt weird.  My boss had met me there and helped me with it all, along with collecting the stuff I brought back and my security pass. 

It was kind of bittersweet but I made it.  I took myself down the road to my favorite ice cream place and consoled myself with some ice cream.  Not an entirely bad way to end a career.