Watermelon juice, a job's end and a child's view

Today was the last day of my contract at work.  It heralds big change in my life.  Then I think about all the change in my job over 9 years.  It is time for reflection.  I thought I would share with you my breakfast, my thoughts and Sylvia's view of the world.

Breakfast first.  Always have breakfast first.   Of late, I have been in the habit of drinking a smoothie with soy milk, oats, chia seeds, banana and berries in the morning.  Today I was sampling a peach slice, so I kept my smoothie simpler.  A large chunk of watermelon, half a banana, a handful of strawberries and a peach whizzed up with my hand held blender.  Hmmm, I don't really need to write that up as a recipe.  It was delicious and just slightly creamy.  (Oh, I just remembered that the second glassful is in the fridge.)

Yes I made peach slice.  It is actually this plum slice but using peaches instead of plums.  The peaches had to be used.  One of my colleagues brought along a tub of yoghurt.  The slice was delicious with the yoghurt spooned over it and a tim tam on the side.  Enjoyed following a delicious beetroot, bean, walnut and feta salad served with dips and bikkies and dolmades.

So you see I have some generous colleagues whom I will miss.  And there are many more wonderful people I have worked alongside in the past.  And a few oddballs.  Thinking back about all I have seen in this job makes me feel old.  Yet I spent years bouncing around from job to job as I travelled.  I worked in a recruitment company for a while and noticed on cvs that people who stayed in a job for a long time often had opportunities.  I found that to be true.

I started my job on a 3 year contract without any guarantee of it continuing beyond that.  I accepted the job without even understanding the organisation for which I was employed (it being nested within too many centres and departments).  I had opportunities to develop skills, gain a deeper understanding of my country, work closely with brilliant minds and be involved in innovative ways of working.  It was a job of constant change and complexity.  Here are some numbers:

9 years (including 1 year maternity leave), with 3 contract renewals
8 titles I used to name my workplace over this time (depending on whom I was talking to)
7 conferences
5 cities where we held our symposiums
4 CEOs plus 3 acting CEOs
4 office moves and 1 change of building
4 different websites I worked on
3 supervisors
3 computers
2 employing organisation
2 child care centres
1 job title and yet many roles
1 peer reviewed paper I co-authored
1 induction I organised where one attendee failed to show because she had a car accident on the way to the airport.

I'd like to also count the meetings, the documents created, the colleagues, the morning teas, the interstate flights, the working groups, the drinks after work and more.  My memory isn't as sharp as it used to be.  So many memories.  So many stories.  Much has to be left unspoken. 

One big change at work was going from full time to part time after having Sylvia.  It makes finding more work harder but it also gives me more reason to spend time at home.  Her view of the world helps me see it with new eyes.  Here are a few comments from her lately that made me smile:

• When our electricity went off a week or two ago, she asked if it was because the paint bottles weren't lined up together on our bench.
• We were discussing kinds of boats today and she said to me, "and there are boats for mice".
• She asked me about why we have fingernails.  I said maybe for protection and digging and then I asked her why she thought we have fingernails.  "To put nail polish on", she suggested.

So I head into a time of change, of uncertainty, of trying new things.  A little scary.  A little exciting.  Honestly, I am ready to leave this job.  I am also tired.  I am looking forward to a wee break.  But not for long.  Some work beckons on the horizon.