Closure
Yesterday was such an emotional day. The residents + my team colleagues gave me such a lovely sendoff, which was amazing on so many levels. I even received some planning-related gifts — they know me so well! I am so grateful to have worked with such amazing people, and hoping I can still be a part of their lives, just in a different way. I told them I will still cry at graduation this year (as I always do!!!) but from the audience instead of the stage!
At the very end of the day, I changed my email signature and left all of the GME-related WhatsApp threads. Cord fully cut! I feel like I did a good job onboarding my successor and cleaning up loose ends over the course of this month. She is ready and I don’t think I forgot anything big.
I felt sad, and also relieved, and also excited. The program (and the people in it!) has occupied so much of my brain space over the last few years, and I’m not sure I even appreciated how weighty that could feel sometimes.
Onward + upward.
Looking Ahead
NEW MONTH ALERT! And October has so much to look forward to. In addition to my new work schedule (which is a big deal), this month contains:
- only one Josh-call weekend (yay)
- 2 date nights, including one tonight!
- a short West Coast trip (Josh’s college BFF’s son’s bar mitzvah. This makes me feel soooo old. Also, what should I wear? Hmmm.)
- kids really solidifying routines. I think all the activity quitting is done for the time being (lol) and we are down to two activities for each kid: A has gymnastics + theater, C has a tennis + gymnastics, G has dance + gymnastics. Yay.
- building up my ‘base’ for pre-half-marathon training! I know I don’t need 4.5 months to train for a half marathon, but I’m really trying to get some speed back and I do feel like I’m making some progress. Looking forward to a bit more mileage this month, getting into ~30 mpw territory.
- all the fall things! Despite having zero fall weather, I want to lean into the season. This weekend we will do our annual Buy All The Pumpkin Things fest at Trader Joe’s, and I think we might even put up some Halloween decor.
- Speaking of Halloween:
C is not shown here because he has not committed to a costume yet! Maybe this weekend.
11 Comments
That sounds like a lovely plan for October. I’m in Canada and fly home tonight and feel like I want to spend a few minutes in a cafe today mapping out my month in more detail. I felt like September was just flying by the seat of my pants.
Key things this month:
A day date – cool new restaurant and theatre this week
A family trip for my husband’s nephew’s 18th
A zoo meet up with the cousins
I’ll be away quite a lot so hoping to also sneak in some extra one on one time with my son
Teaching, teaching, teaching
Finishing off proofs for three articles
Sitting on the panel to hire a postdoc (looking forward to someone who works on similar things to me joining the department!)
Also committing to weekly yoga when I’m in my work city. The studio is 4 minutes walk from my flat – no excuses
And we need to strip the wallpaper in the living room in preparation for plastering and painting… which is going to be an annoying (it’s glittery so we’ll have to wear masks and goggles) but gratifying task.
And I forgot to write congratulations on wrapping up your role! I’m sure you made a huge difference and left a good model for your successor to follow.
Omg the girls twinning for Holloween, so cute! Nice to hear you got a great send-off, that they appreciated you.
Congrats! Transitions are always emotional, but this sounds like such a positive step forward. You’ve learned a lot, kicked butt in the role, and it’s time to move on! How exciting.
Also, those matching outfits are TOO cute. I love buying things pre-fab, but have a child that is insisting on another homemade costume (thankfully this year she’s old enough to do it almost completely independently…using IKEA cardboard packaging).
I’m impressed (but not surprised) at how organized and clearly defined your transition sounded! Whenever I get onboarded for a new role, the training i get from a predecessor always feels very inefficient, unorganized, and random. Kudos for setting your successor up for success! Again, not surprised by this from you but it really seems rare!
I also had 6 MONTHS of lead time!
I’d love to read a detailed post sometime about how you made this decision. Did you have a coach help you figure this out? I remember you sounding unhappy with work last winter.
Congratulations on a successful transition.
LOVE the matching costumes! So adorable 🥰
I am glad you had such a proper send off! It shows how much they valued you. And now you got to pass the torch to someone who was looking for this challenge.
Enjoy your date night tonight! I had my 10k this morning and really pushed myself. I finished in around 58 min with a 9:25 pace. I might have pushed myself a bit too hard as I am not feeling great but it was fun to see what I could do.
congrats Lisa! That is awesome!!!!!!!! 10K is SUCH a hard distance. Shorter than a half, but if you try to go at 5K pace you will end up in DEEP trouble!!
It’s weird because I ran 6 miles @ 9:33 last week. I guess 10 seconds faster/mile was too much. I had terrible GI issues and went to bed at 8 last night!! I felt so good during the race, though. I never felt like I was running too fast! But I guess my body thought it was too much! That’s my last/only race for the year, though, sonI wanted to push myself a bit. I’m doing a 10k on thanksgiving but that will be at an easy pace.
The coolest thing was that the race goes by the governor’s mansion and he was out cheering all the runners on! I thought that was sooo cool!
Congrats on transitioning successfully and the positive mindset about change. I need to keep reminding this as I transition…. getting hard to do things and meet people for the last time these days.
maybe I should start writing down things that I’m excited about.