Dear Friends

Today was Going Away event number 4 - my department lunch at Boylan Heights. Number 1 was dinner at Guadalajara with the ALS Association. Number 2 was lunch from Zazu's with my team. Number 3 was last night's suprise going away rooftop BBQ supper club planned by my dear roommate Ginna. I don't want to toot my own horn, but I can't believe the impact I have made during my short two years here. Of all the times I've moved I've never felt such dread about leaving my friends. In college it wasn't difficult because everyone was off doing something new. In NYC everyone is in a transition of some fashion as well. But here, people are going to continue their lives just as they have only I won't be here to enjoy - I'll be missing out. I'm really going to miss them.

I was so grateful that almost all of ALS clinic made it out to my dinner. Even both of our attendings (for some reason I think of attending the way kids think of their teachers - that they aren't "real" people and they live in some other universe.) My colleagues there said that they were really going to miss me because of how much I loved working with their patients.

My team lunch was sweet too, after all the hard times our teacm has been through. Even Joe gave me a hug, which really caught me off guard. When the last person on my team left, we did a run to Starbucks and only half the team showed up. I'm sure everyone was on their best behavior, but I really, really believe that they are actually going to miss me, and I thanked them for all the time spent bringing me up to the level where I am. The person I was when I moved here, or the shell of a person rather, is gone and I have completely changed. I am empowered and enthusiastic and bold and know I will make waves wherever I go.

Last night when Ginna gave me the scrapbook she made for me I just about lost it, and when I flipped through again (as I did continuously for the remainder of the night) I continued to feel like I'd lost my breath. Again, I was flattered by the turnout of my suprise going away party but beside myself with gratitude for these people who I'd come to know so well. I will never forget these friends and I will always remember Virginia as the place with the good people.

Today I went to lunch with the department. When my boss handed me the department's token going-away gift, an engraved Jefferson cup, she told me and the group that all the kind things that were written in my card by my coworkers were all true. Then her boss told me how I had made a place for myself in their hearts that would be there after I'd left. Wow. I mean, WOW!

For a first job, there's been a lot to gripe about, but now that I am leaving, there is clearly more to love. So when people ask me if I'm excited, this is why they then have to say that I don't look it.