Today was my last day at the job I've held for the past five years. It was more than a job - it was a family. The kind that drives you crazy, keeps you up with worry at night, laughs with you till you almost wet your pants, dries your tears, brings you dinners after you've had a baby and in general makes you a better person.
I felt like I really grew up and came into my own at this job. Sometimes I can't believe Shannon, my boss, asked me to come on board to create a new position, an entire department, and help open a new multi-million dollar museum. I was barely 24 years old. I managed media, egos, budgets, teenagers, ad campaigns, hundreds of kids running through the building, a logo redesign, movie shoots, exhibit designs ... I gained confidence, connections, creative skills and my accreditation in PR. I had the crazy idea to help build a Teen Board, one of my proudest life accomplishments, and now have more than 90 "kids" I couldn't be prouder of. I watched under-priviledged kids come to a place where people cared about them and wanted to teach them cool things about being from Oklahoma. They didn't know being from Oklahoma was cool. They didn't know they were cool. I saw kids get to go to college with money my organization provided - kids who otherwise wouldn't have had the means to go. I saw lives changed forever. My life was changed forever.
I'm proud of the professional accomplishments I had while there, but I'm most proud of the friendships I developed. And those are bigger than a building or a job. Those I get to take with me.
Wow! You've written quite a powerful statement, here, Erin. You are in the right profession, because you know what to say and just the right way to say it. Impressive, inspiring and insightful....abilities you must surely have inherited from me....Love, Aunt Granny
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