Diary of My Last Day--For the Memories

Got into work 20 minutes late due to last minute stuffing of the car with the last of the stuff from my daughter's place. My tiny car now looks like I may be living in it.

7:00 Clean out the last drawer at work and go through the last of the professional documents on the remaining shelves above my desk. I have already filled a large green recycle dumpster with files no longer needed. So much of what we do at work is busywork.
7:45 Go through some historic materials and sort certain files for boxing and mailing to remote staff.
8:10 A few farewells from staff who stop by the desk and one surprise hug. I send out a thank-you to that 'Team' who gave me a nice lunch the day before.
8:30 Exit interview with the person who oversees all the divisions including ours. I was calm but honest. Bottom line is that resource depletion, a few dysfunctional personalities and a few hard-workers who spend time looking over their shoulder are interfering with the peace. He actually said he would implement some of my ideas because they were good. He has several idiots under his domain and knew exactly what I was talking about.
9:30 Take exit form around for signing and find that since I had parts of it pre-signed yesterday (by appropriate staff), it made the person who starts the form today look like she wasn't doing her job (??) 15 minutes of small talk and reassuring her and I finally get the signed form back to walk around!
10:00 Get a lovely figurine from our secretary and a rose. Unfortunately the figurine got broken in the transport, and while easily repairable, she is devastated. She will miss me the most as I have been the one she leans on when stressed, and she gets stressed a lot.
10:30 Get an orchid corsage from the other division head who insists this signifies the start of the party. She is the one everyone hates as she micromanages the hell out of things and never listens to you. Today she has gone out of her way to be considerate...who knew? The orchid is missing the plastic tube for attaching and we jury rig with some brown book tape someone had in a drawer. (Is all this an omen?)
10:45 Write a lengthy memo outlining the history of a project that never got off the ground and for which monies had been allocated and then disappeared. While I didn't point fingers I made clear where the problems were. Also find some last minute digital outreach files for colleagues who are in a panic about loosing them.
11:15 Hubby has come to the building and is meeting with an old friend and then we head out together for a quick lunch.
11:45 Heading out to load the over-crammed car with yet one more box! Now I have only a tiny place to sit as hubby will be driving.
12:15 Going over the last of the email folders and files on my PC to make sure I didn't miss anything.
12:45 Labeling the last of the packages that need to be routed to other offices and washing down the bare shelves and desktop...yes I am anal.
1:30 The Party Starts. I am surprised that both of my children can make it. I also see a few colleagues from remote areas of the program that I haven't seen in a while. I didn't expect them because the flyer about my retirement was posted just the day before. Over thirty people show up (including two that I am sure I do not know!) and the table is spread for a king. (They love me, they really love me ;-))
1:00 Lots of very nice speechifying with just a little roasting. Several paper certificates and gift cards.
1:30 My brief farewell speech. At the first I almost loose it and then tell myself I refuse to cry and I hold it together. I actually stupidly hadn't planned anything to say...so am doing a stream of consciousness thing.
1:40 More gifts, lots of photos. I am beginning to feel like some movie star as even people I hate have to have a picture taken with me!
3:30 It is finally all over. Such a rush-around morning followed by a very emotional afternoon. Send out my final thank you email to all. Hubby and I gather the gifts and once again cram the car with more stuff. Farewell to the children.
3:40 Head down to my new house for the very last time from this office. Very much a stunned thought time. You know it is coming...but like having a baby you can't really get your mind around it until it happens.

Such a milestone. And definitely worth a thoughtful blog entry once all has been digested.