The Old Place

I seriously considered letting my last day of work pass by without blogging about it at all. This is not because it isn't significant to me, but because I just don't know that I am able to articulate my feelings about leaving my job.

Before I begin, I want to clarify that it was absolutely my choice to quit my job. I want to stay home with Brianna more than I want to work. I know I am incredibly blessed to have the option to stay home, and staying home with her is truly a dream come true for me.

That does not mean, however, that it wasn't incredibly hard for me to leave my job. In the words of The Fray, sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same. I am confident that staying home is the right thing, but leaving my job was hard. Harder than I ever thought it would be.

My job was so much more than a job to me. It fulfilled my passion for higher education, it challenged me in ways that I needed to be challenged, it fostered my social side, and in many ways it helped define who I am.

I LOVE the staff that I worked with. We would have so much fun! Not every day was perfect and wonderful, but we became pretty good at turning a bad day around.

I was blessed to be able to spend 40 hours a week with one of my best friends.

I love that university and believe in its success.

I felt like I had a place where I could make a difference. I made a difference in people who made a difference in me.
I belonged. Now I don't. It's hard to suddenly not belong.

However, I now belong in a new place... with my baby girl. And the new place is wonderful. It's more wonderful than I could have ever imagined.

But, that doesn't mean that the old place doesn't still tug at my heart.