"Leaving on a Jet Plane"

All day yesterday, I felt as if I was forgetting something, but could not figure out what it was.

Today, as I glanced at the calendar, it hit me: yesterday was the third year 'anniversary' of my last day at my old job.

20 July 2007 was also the last day I lived in Athens, Ohio.  By that time, my husband and I had been married for almost 5 months.  It was about 6 weeks after he returned to DK after visiting for a month.  I would have 10 more days in Ohio until flying PIT-EWR-CPH and arriving in my new life.  I couldn't wait to join my husband, but it was a lot of hard work to make this move, and difficult to say 'bye' to the treasured friends. Friday, 20 July 2007, was extremely busy and harried and filled with great memories.

My dear dear friend drove 90 miles to help me pack the night before, and continued doing so as I went off to work that morning.  She is the sweetest friend (or else really wanted to see me leave, hahaha).  And despite having had and participated in yard sales, donation store drop-offs, and give-a-ways, I was still left with a sizable amount of possessions.  The pile was definitely NOT going to fit nicely into 2 50-lb. suitcases and a carry-on suitcase and backpack (the allowable free baggage at the time), like I had hoped.  I e-mailed my dad and suggested he might want to bring my mom's SUV instead of his car to pick me up.  (I had sold my beloved car a couple of weeks earlier.)

The day at work was mostly uneventful.  Almost all of the sales reps were away at a seminar (THANK GOD!), and my replacement took the day off for a family event way out in the boonies with no mobile reception that had been scheduled since before she took the job. I still had to pack up the proverbial cardboard box that had once been filled with reams of glossy paper that we used for marketing materials.  I packed the many photos, thank-you cards, and other mementos of the previous 6 years, like a 1940s imaged Coca-Cola mug-turned-pen holder that my sister had given to me into that box.

The 5th and 20th of the month were pay dates, and I had saved up a lot of vacation time to make that day's one whopper of a final check. My good friend met me at the Blue Gator for lunch.  I remember our server gave me some suggestions of what books I should read while flying to Copenhagen.  She probably did not imagine that every square inch of my luggage had already been carefully analyzed while planning which possessions to take with me.  Instead, my friend and I happily smiled and nodded as we noshed and listened.

I went to the bank and deposited the check.  Seeing that big number felt good, as it had been incredibly difficult to avoid taking vacation days near the end of my time in Athens.  After all, my future university had demanded that I needed some intro to marketing courses, and I was taking two via Phoenix in my final weeks in Athens (which also cost a pretty penny!).  This was on top of wrapping up all of the other loose ends that come with moving.  My husband had visited for a month in May, and it was hard to not take more time off with him.  We sacrificed, so we could have more of a cushion later.

At some point in the late afternoon, the Street Team leader had suddenly found some sort of crisis for the event that was happening the following day.  With the sales reps who were also contacts for this event and my replacement being out of the office, and me hours away from freedom, she did not make much headway with solving the issue.  After all, my replacement had trained for at least 6 weeks, and it was made extremely clear by all that Friday, 20 July 2007 was my last day, and the amount of input that I would have about decisions by then would have fallen to zero, zip, zilch, nada.

At 4:30, I suddenly remembered that I had some photos waiting for me at the CVS just down the street.  I popped into the front office to tell the office manager where I was going, in case my dad arrived early.  As was always the case, the wait at CVS took FOR-EV-ER.  I thought of how this makes me not want to believe in karma, because I had always been a very fast cashier.  When I finally got out of there, I hurried back to the office.  As I walked down the sidewalk that lined the 2-lane one-way brick street, I heard singing from the other side: "She's leaving, on a jet plane....don't know when you'll be back again".  My old boss from my part-time restaurant hostess job had spotted me and gave me this cheerful sendoff.  He always knew how to make me smile.

Sure enough, my dad had arrived at the office.  It was almost 5:00.  A final round of hugs to the darling coworkers was in order.  My dad drove to my rental, and filled up the SUV with more things I was giving away: a 1-year old LG window air conditioner, microwave, TV, a bicycle, and some small appliances that I knew the future inhabitants of the Little Denmark student rental could use.  We drove around and dropped these things off at their future homes.  We came back and packed the SUV completely full with my remaining possessions.  Photo albums take up so much space!

My good friend's friend came by to pick up the Ikea couch and other small pieces of furniture.  My housemate had complained a lot about his previous renter leaving behind a lot of his things, so I did my best to make sure I didn't leave anything behind.  In retrospect, maybe he would have liked the a/c and microwave left behind.

With a small group of friends gathered, we opened a bottle of Ga-Jol licorice and had a farewell shot.  Or two.  We cheered friendship with each other, no matter where in the world we might be.  My dad and I left, but I had one more stop in Athens to make.  It was at the new apartment of the mutual friend of my husband and me, the guy who set us up on our blind date.  Unfortunately he was at work at the time, but I shared a few moments on the porch swing with his wife and young baby girl.  It was hard to imagine that so much had changed in their lives already: wasn't it just the other day that T and I were at their wedding reception?  How time flies.

My dad and I stopped at Applebee's in Marietta for dinner, after I quickly returned some unused wedding reception items at Crafts 2000.  More money in my pocket!  As we sat at our table, I noticed how totally exhausted I felt - had been running on fumes for the last several weeks, and just a few hours of sleep over the last few days.  I remember I ordered a chicken dish and was surprised when I discovered the chicken still had the bones in it.  Oh, it tasted good.  I think we forget how good chicken can taste, because we are so used to eating it boneless.

Finally we arrived back home, but the day was not done yet.  We had to unload everything from the SUV, because the following morning we were leaving early to pick up his mom and uncle, and my mom (who was away helping out her sister with her blueberry farm harvest), to go to his brother's wedding in Columbus.  I think it was after midnight when everything was unpacked, and we had to leave the house by 6:30 the next morning.

My uncle's wedding was one of the most holistic and spiritual weddings I've ever been to.  It was in his backyard, and incorporated some lovely elements, such as chimes, the release of butterflies, and the like.  It was great to meet my new cousins and aunt.  One couldn't have asked for better weather. The warmth of the sun kissed my shoulders, left bare by the dress I wore at T's and my reception.  At once, I felt relieved and re-energized.  I would need that energy over the next 10 days - my final days back home until I didn't know when ("Don't know when I'll be back again").  My sister's new baby was just over 2 months old, too.

On my last day in Athens, my dear dear friend gave me a lovely present.  Actually, two.  One was a sterling silver necklace with "K" as the pendant, and the other a sterling silver charm bracelet, with one charm. It read on one side, "7-20-07" and on the other, "Love, H".  Whenever I am in need of feeling closer to all the good things in my previous life in Athens, I wear that bracelet.  In fact, I think I'll wear it today.