Adios compañeros de trabajo: the first goodbye to my coworkers

Today my office hosted a taco bar lunch in my honor catered in from Qdoba (and bagels were brought in this morning too!)! It was so nice. The way to this girl's heart is food-an added bonus that it was Mexican food too-which most people seem to know by now, so it was probably obvious that it would make my day. It totally did, and although it was delicious, the thought of them putting it together for me was the best part.

When the Adios subject line for the meeting request came into my inbox last week, I should have immediately suspected the Mexican theme, but wasn't so sure if I should take it more like, "Sayonara! See ya when we see ya! Beat it, chica!" Yesterday the black beans were spilled and I knew to get my palate ready for a cilantro sprinkled feast today. Oh, and what a feast it was and they topped it off with a chocolate cake to boot!

I think with any job that you work at for a significant period of time, there are bound to be roller coaster moments; there are highs and lows. It's been the case in every job for me at least, and this one was no different. With this organization, when there were highs, they were great and closing this chapter has been tougher than I thought it would be.

I got married, moved into a new house and had two babies (well, almost two...two pregnancies at least) while working with this company, major life changes. Through all of them, the flexibility, understanding and support I received from my employers to my managers to my co-workers was fantastic. I have come to know many exceptional people; I've worked with everyone in my department in particular since the day I started, five and a half years ago. We've had a lot of fun together. There's a lot to miss, but knowing that I'm making the best decision possible for my family helps to keep the tears at bay. We'll see what happens on Friday, my last day. I was able to stifle them during my little speech at lunch today, but it helped that I chose to read the card they had all signed until I was on my own. When I opened it and read the first passage, I knew my emotions would get the better of me and it would be a good idea to wait.

Thanks for the send off, amigos! Who knows what my future holds exactly, but two things are for certain: tacos will be a part of it and I will walk away from my time at AMI with many fond memories of the highs.