Just Lauren

Yesterday Gene and I went on a picnic date! We grabbed Chinese food and headed over to Garland Park where we plunked ourselves down at a really weird picnic table (it was very low to the ground and we had to stretch our feet out, it’s hard to explain). We watched the ducklings and the goslings swim around Lollipop Lake and listened to the overexcited birds flying above the pond. We walked around the park afterward until it started raining, so we headed back home to eat ice cream and watch The Orville. It was a lovely evening, I could not have asked for better.

Today was my last day at DPS. I drove up to the top floor of the parking garage for the first time so I could see the view and snap a selfie in front of the building I have gone to for four years. I felt like a student again, like a little kid. I even packed myself cinnamon toast, exactly like the kind my mother made for me every day of most of my school life. My coworkers had a breakfast for me and Brenda where they made and brought in food and we visited and played a couple rounds of Concept. It was the perfect way to go, these are the people I spent Friday Funday with, these are the people I saw every day who heard me complain and made me laugh and decorated for Christmas with. They knew me so well that they got me a t-rex planter with a little succulent in it. It’s sitting on the corner shelf now and it looks f***ing fantastic. They could not have gotten me a better gift.

The team that I supported also surprised me and Brenda with a very touching video. They each recorded goodbye messages to us and our manager put them all together. It was so sweet and was also the perfect way to leave DPS. I didn’t want a party or a big goodbye so although this video did make me cry, I much preferred it to a lengthy, even sadder, in person goodbye. As Gene told me this morning as I expressed my feelings of being overwhelmed and sad, I really can see these people again. And Brenda reminded me that I can go to lunch with them at any time. That made me feel better.

I left work early because I wasn’t doing any actual work and I felt like it was time for me to go. Because I wanted to go to a happy hour later that afternoon I went to the Botanic Gardens for a little bit. I first went in search of bees but after only finding honey bees and no bumbles, I sat for a bit and took in the day. I read, snapped a couple of pictures, and then headed to happy hour where I enjoyed the company of my coworkers and ate some decent hummus. And that was the end of my time at DPS. Saying goodbye to a handful of people and heading home.

Elisabeth made dinner and now we’re going on an evening walk. Here’s to the next chapter in my life.