I started a new job last week Thursday, but today, I completed my last day of work for my previous job. I trained my replacement for three hours this afternoon, and since I left the offices of the literary agency as an assistant for the last time, I have felt strange.
Rothman Brecher Ehrich Livingston has been ever-present in my life for the last year and four months. I went in knowing that I didn't want to be an agent and would learn what I could before my inevitable departure, but leaving still breaks my heart a little. Goodbyes always do. I know that I'm not leaving town, that my former colleagues are still friends, but that microcosm of the world was such a part of my life that I know I'll have to be patient with myself in building a new normal.
I am grateful for all I learned. I'm grateful for all of the friendships I made. The ache in my heart means that I care. I can even learn from it: feeling pain on saying goodbye meant that I loved, I cared, and I was vulnerable. Loving deeply made my experience more rich. If the aches are the price of having real relationships, I'll take them. I can only hope I have those aches when I leave this next job.