8:51 a.m. - 2013-07-16
Ah...oh, yes, hello...
Well, it has been nearly a year since I, along with multitudinous others, were asked to sever the bonds of codependency with Orkplace.

It was truly a shock, because I have always been a high-producing, honest employee, with a good attitude and a commitment to workplace safety and good morale. "Might have been part of the problem, eh?" I can hear you commenting. (Only a joke!)

Also, I had been there a very long time. It isn't really the norm to stay at a place for long time anymore, is it?

The reason that I am thinking about this is that I received a LinkedIn request from someone whom I hold in high esteem, who might be horrified at what I used to do. The thing is, the industry in which I worked used to be held in high esteem, and did good things for many. I went in to it because I wanted to help people. But along the way, things changed, as things do. The ideology was different. Only just this morning, I read an article about the industry that highlights the differences...and it just makes me sad. The last year at Orkplace for me was not an easy one.

The industry is packed with wonderful, talented, caring people who use their talents in the hopes of making the world a better place. There are idealists, intellectual pioneers, people who believe that this is a Godly calling to them, and they pour their lives into it. They sweat, they fear, they support each other, they hope, they face huge disappointments, and frankly, the rewards are far fewer than the sacrifices. These are truly noble people and I am privileged to know some of them. But things changed. Perhaps it was a good thing to part ways. In retrospect, I did no longer fit in.

Ah, really what can I actually say?

So, in this year, year one of my new life, I have stumbled, bumbled, learned a great deal about forgiveness, understanding, acceptance, flexibility...I have dug deep to find what kernels of authenticity I can find within myself, freaked out about the future, ran blindly through fields of goodness, not understanding what they were...I've been rescued so many times by people who didn't even know it...and repeatedly by some who are probably hoping that I am finally healing enough to stand on my own two feet, and not on theirs...

I've furthered my education formally, as well as in life. I've made a lot of wonderful new friends, and found my way back to lost or neglected friends. And I have finally found out what I want to do with my life! I think I have a good 20 years of productivity left. If not more...

Library!

I have never had so much fun at work, and had fun doing and learning. And I chatter about it at dinner, like I never felt that I was able before. I have worked my way up from Library Assistant to Catalog Librarian, and I am learning new things every day! Plus, I get to work with an AWEsome crew, and I could go on for hours about it, but you might fall asleep...I work in an old mansion, like how I used to do when I worked at Yale when I was in school. I used to call that building "Workies" and oh, how I had been missing it. And now I get it again! And I get to ride Eloise (bicycle) to work, and I ride along a scenic towpath, and frankly, I have healed to the extent that I know that I am one of the luckiest people on Earth!

Now it is time to go back to school again to get my MLS. Scary, but I am going to do it. If anyone out there knows the slightest thing abut finding grants and scholarships to apply for, I am All Ears!

MUCH love and happiness to you all!

XOFifi

Cavalry - Apache