Goodbye For Now--But Not For Long

Last Friday was my one and only friend from work last day. For the past several months, she has been actively pursing other options in the hopes of getting out of higher education. The degree of idiocracy by our superiors drove her over the edge much sooner than that, though. She was the one who I could always vent to about the ridiculous things our boss would say and do. On a daily basis, we would pass over ten emails back and forth commenting (sarcastically) on the going-ons of our work place. Although our offices were right next to each other, there was something much more enjoyable and safe about sending cynical emails.

For the past two weeks, I've known that her last day as my co-worker was just around the corner. However, I was traveling so much in those two weeks that we didn't see each other once. We continued our communication through emails and phone calls. On her last day, she sent me the sweetest email about being colleagues and being friends. It wasn't really until this afternoon when I finally made it in to the office the it hit me. She's gone. Her office was bare and dark. All of her personal effects from coffee mugs to pictures of her and her fiance were no longer there. She would never be in that office again. Now, I know it sounds like I'm talking about someone who just died. However, she was the only friend that I had or wanted to have.

What's strange about our relationship is that we lived parallel lives for a short period of time but never knew each other. I am one year her senior almost to the date. We both attended the same college within one year of each other. We were in different sororities but knew so many of the same people. We had the same major but never once had a class together. But what truly makes our friendship special is the fact that we have the same thoughts and beliefs. Our views are almost always aligned and we could easily complete each other's thoughts. I've never knew anyone who was so much like me that wasn't related to me. We had some of the same stories from college, only happening at different times. Our cleaning neurosis was unfathomable. We are both control-freaks, planners and introverts. I could go on and on. At times, I felt like we shared the same spirit but resided in two different bodies.

I have to admit that selfishly I am sad that she no longer works with me. I'll miss our sarcastic views on the world. I'll miss being able to vent about the stupidity of our work environment. I'll miss that she was the ONLY person in the whole University that I could trust. COMPLETELY. I just miss her.

On the good friend side, though, I'm ecstatic that she has taken this new opportunity to pursue her career goals and dreams. She now has a position in which she can fully utilize her intelligence and talent. I'm actually jealous. But in a good way.

By no means does the end of her employment mean the end of our friendship. I look forward to many happy hours and date nights. We are currently planning an evening in which Chris and her fiance can finally meet and we can go out together as couples. I've also marked my calendar for her wedding next October and hope to be of assistance along the way.

I think that old saying does hold true: You don't know what you have until it's gone. Fortunately, she's only gone in terms of colleagues. Our friendship will flourish.