last day.

adapted from an email to andrew today at 4:40 pm:

it's crazy to think- this was my last day of work.

last day in the lab that i manage, where i meet families, where i hang out, where i've either been getting angry or laughing hysterically for the past year and a half.

where i've gossiped. where i've read news articles and watched online videos and taken photos and stuck post-its on every imaginable surface.

where i've collated data and placed orders and stressed over a budget and run up and down the stairs all day. where i've talked to coworkers while messing around on my little ibook.

and though i may do these things again, in some different sequence, this is the last day that is going to look like it has so far - taking the S to prospect park, the Q to union square, the R to 8th street... walking down to think coffee for my bagel (toasted sesame, cream cheese) & cappuccino... smiling hello to the guards in meyer building, who inevitably recognize me and wave me on... plopping my stuff down, reading email, pulling on my cozy lab sweater, going over to chat with lauren & kevin.

teasing. kvetching. debating. rejoicing. laughing.
lots of laughing.

squeezing the sweet babies. joking with the moms. lab meetings. "baby splitting." the annoying action lab. no shows. babysitting the toddlers. null results, or problems with the set-up, and then realizing our panic was for nothing.

it's also crazy... how i fall into this work, get caught up in doing things and talking to people and responding and organizing and always "finishing up" something.

i've been writing this since noon. :)

since then i've been packing up, basically, and saying my goodbyes. last conversations, but not really last, as i know i will see these people again... if not this year, then in the future.
but i know that, at least.

i visited catharine, our head of subject recruitment, and we had a nice chat about the labs, about our funny interactions, about religion and families. i'm really going to miss her - she's so sweet and delightful.

then laura came down to hang out with me, kevin, and kasey... we laughed about all kinds of crazy things. it's hard to leave these guys - i mean, i miss lauren already. we've had a really good year-plus together.

they've all made this work a million times more tolerable, and entertaining, every single day.

so now it's actually ending.. it'll be 5:00 soon, i've got my things packed, my laptop backed up, papers in order, and have passed off pretty much everything to yulia. it's all her now. i'm no longer the manager here.. i have a different job, stepping back into my former role: that of a student.

basically this whole thing is crazy. :)

a year later, another big transition in my life...