Some Like It In A Pot Nine Years Old

The other night I was going through some old pictures from the attic and found the prints from a roll of film I accidentally loaded into the camera twice. So I've got pictures of my cat posing moodily in front of Poas Volcano, and another one of both of the cats relaxing by a beautiful waterfall in the rainforest of Costa Rica. I also found an old picture of Just Pat taken on the day our Korean friend almost left her crutch outside the car. When we started to drive off she yelled My CROTCH! MY CROTCH!! We had a discussion very soon after about the difference between the letter U nd the letter O.

In other news, this morning I had my 9th annual review at work.
9 years and now I'm headed out the door. I will be done the end of October, and on to something else.
Who knows what exactly, it's just time for a shorter drive, says me.

And now, it's time to wax nauseatingly sentimental about it all.

9 years ago I had bigger glasses and bigger hair. But I was smaller then.
I had bigger ideas and bigger opinions but my worldview was smaller then.
I had a bigger watch and a bigger set of issues but my car was smaller.
I had a bigger set of friends but my heart was smaller.
My dreams were bigger but my 401(k) was smaller.
My "theology" was bigger but my God was also smaller.

During this 9 years a lot of life happened. I went from a musician to a receptionist to an office manager without totally losing the musician part of myself. I learned to keep my cool better. I learned that my workplace is not necessarily my community or my surrogate family. I found out I can't do life without letting people in though, and I need rich healthy friendships and connections in order to survive and stay on a good course. I learned that people can suprise you with goodness. And they can also suprise you with badness. I learned that we all are complex and there are no easy answers in life or in working with people.
My dad passed away, my great grandmother and my grandmother, and my brother too. Mom mom had cancer and beat it, and I had 2 surgeries. I had my very first Migraine somewhere along in there and amassed a significant coffee cup collection over time. I bought a house, I turned 30, watched the millenium change, and thought Jesus would return in the year 2000.
ahem.... hey, no laughing!
There was "The Flood" when a sprinkler main broke in our office building and flooded us out. There were Happy Hours and there was the time I sang to everyone in the building on the intercom because I forgot my headset was still on.
I wore high heels, then loafers then clogs then birkenstocks then flip flops to work because our dress code got more casual as time went on. There was the beanie baby craze that tore through and 9/11. I was in the hospital and woke up from surgery to scenes of the twin towers burning. I thought it was WWIII. The tech stock bubble popped. My friends got married, had kids, and I got married eventually too. (yaay!)
The last nine years have shown me a lot professionally and personally. I'm ready to take on whatever's next. Heck, with two months left I'm sure I can manage to add to this list with some inspirational and acutely embarassing stunt or two. More news at 11.