Spring.

I find it unbelievable that this will be the last spring that I will have to walk through campus on my way to work. Future spring walks through campus will be completely voluntary and I'm excited for that.  It's funny.  I thought that I would feel sad about retiring so early but I can honestly say that I have not experienced that. Last week I gave my official notice and it felt so right. I am so looking forward to my next career/life that utilizes my more artistic side. How I ended up doing the work I currently do, was totally happenstance.  I worked in banking of all things. That's where I started immediately after high school. I didn't really like the work but I was amazed that I could do it. I actually spent 13 years in banking, beginning as a clerk recording treasury rates and ending as secondary marketing underwriter. Around this time, a quilting frame fell from where it was propped and landed on my head. After that, my abilities changed a bit. I no longer had a head for anything mathematical and I switched to human services since that was a field that always had openings. I worked as a clerk/typist for the county base services/mental health and the department of welfare. Around this time, I may some changes and some rash decisions which led me to abandon where I was living and begin a new life with my 2 kids in a different part of the state. I wanted to go to college - I was the only one in the family who hadn't. I pressured myself into believing that I needed to attend the same university that the rest of my family had attended so off we went. In college, I had a wonderful professor who encouraged me to pursue a graduate degree in counseling. She taught a few of my 'chemical dependency' courses and said she thought I would excel in this kind of work. Since I really had no idea of what I wanted to do, I went ahead and applied and was accepted into the rehabilitation counseling program. Since then, I've worked in the counseling field - for a bit as a vocational rehabilitation counselor where I discovered that I really liked working with students transitioning from high school to college - and then on to advising in several capacities.

But it has all changed or maybe it is just me who has changed.   Does it matter? I think it will matter again one day. 

But the campus is beautiful and strolling through on a beautiful spring morning is a wonderful way to begin the day.