Today Should Have Been A Great Day Of Goodbyes

For most of the past decade I had picked today as my last day of employment with Freeman. Earth Day 2010…The fortieth anniversary of the defining idea of my generation and 38 years into a career at a single company.

Today would have been the day I was able to say goodbye to coworkers and friends. Today would have been a day of reflection…And tomorrow would have marked a new beginning.

Instead…Between the economic meltdown, management changes at Freeman, and one lady with a penchant for lying to protect her people and skirting the rules and procedures of the business she was entrusted with found me out the door and on the street a year and a half early. Which just goes to show you that even the best laid plans can be upset by things outside your level of control.

For a while I felt resentment for being treated the way I was…But I got over it. Hearing that my ex-manager (the lady mentioned above) had finally been dealt the same treatment, made it even easier to bear…And I’ve moved on. The only thing I still hold against the folks who ushered me out the door is that they took from me my time to say goodbye…My time of reflection.

Now I am building my new life…And tomorrow I will mark a symbolic date on the calendar…The date I planned for…The date I dreamed about for the last decade…The birth of my next phase of life.

So let me be the first to say…

Happy 40th Earth Day