Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

I just read the email. I am stunned. The nirvana that was my work environment is about to change. We knew that changes were coming, but we didn't think it was going to be this radical. I sit at a computer all day in a cubicle that is open on two sides. In the year and a half that I have had this arrangement I have been surrounded by three wonderful women with other workers scattered further away in the room. There isn't much privacy. And we deal with people over the phone who have some pretty intense problems. You tend to get close to your co-workers. That's what happened to us.

Come Monday March 28, most of the cubicles in the room will be empty. In my little area, only one other person will remain. This is hard for me to wrap my head around. I am very fond of this person, but both of us are going to be lonely without our other two buddies.

Change happens. Often, change is good. I happen to know that one of my friends who isn't coming back is moving on to some wonderful adventures including a new grandchild very soon. Maybe those of us who are left will form new bonds and relationships. But change is hard. Before I invest in these new relationships I need to mourn the loss of the old ones.

These women--my friends--have seen me through some very difficult times. When I first came to occupy my cubicle I was a temporary employee, and I had never done this kind of work before. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would be hired into a permanent position. As I struggled to learn the software application, and later the call center, my friends were there for me.

Oh sure, nothing at the moment is happening on my particular contract. The one other person on this contract who works out of Reston is still there, as are all of my team up at headquarters in Linthicum. There will be a wonderful sameness to authorizing case management, mobile treatment, and psych testing always waiting for that beep in my telephone headset signaling an incoming call center call. A few of my fellow Restonites will still be around, working on various things. But it will be different.

I'll be ok.