the end of an era

This week, I spent my last day working as the manager of a laboratory at a biomedical company. After being safely employed there for over 10 years, leaving was about as surreal as the size Meg Ryan's lips have become. I think I feel equal parts excitement and nausea. There are so many wonderful people that I'll miss seeing on a regular basis, and how many jobs allow you to hear cool things like "order a hundred cow ureters for next week", or even better...hearing stories of real people who were helped by what we do.

So I'm taking the big leap into full-time photography, something I've been working on for 3 years now. I have to take a brief blog break to thank my loving, supportive family and friends and the clients who have become friends who trusted me with such important moments in their lives.

And now for some comedy....
I've always said that if/when I left my "day" job, I wanted a t-shirt that said "wish me luck in my future endeavors" (or something to that effect). The reason being that HR has to send this phrase via email whenever someone leaves the company. We've all seen the phrase many, many times over the years. So, a super-duper gal in my department (who wishes to remain nameless) made this awesome puffy paint version and everyone signed the back like a yearbook! Go class of 2008! I wore this fine shirt to my exit interview with HR, and they laughed their faces off and dragged me up to the CEO's office for this photo. By the time I got home, some folks had already emailed me the version of my good-bye email which said

"Please be advised that Stacey Bode, Pilot Lab Manager, is no longer employed with (company name that I'll leave out). Today was her last day of employment. We wish Stacey continued success in her future endeavors! "

I'm pleased to point out that two things occurred with the message for the first time in company history. One is that there was an exclamation point at the end, and the second is that the photo below was attached. Who says the corporate world is cold and unfeeling?!

By the way, I NEVER make this face, so naturally I managed to look as dorky as possible for a photo that about 300 people would see.



So, here I go to try and be successful in my future endeavor! Wish me luck!