I could grouse about how my boss (nor any other senior staff) didn't show up to my farewell party (as they have done for all the other ones I have attended), about I was offered a mere $12.50 an hour to continue my position on a contract basis, about how I was not given the courtesy of an exit interview as everyone else has been, or about how my separation paperwork was not even ready and I had to ferret it out myself, but that would be complaining, eh? Instead I shall share four things from today:

1. The women that I have been helping banded together and created a Patricia-Centered farewell party. It consisted of Costco Pizza and Dr. Pepper! They also made this poster-sized, framed scrapbook page of my time at the agency. It was a very special time for me even if they were the only ones interested in celebrating with me.

2. Six people who do not work with me but have taken note of my communications work, including my collateral designs, heard that I was leaving and wrote me cards to say how much they admired my professionalism and talent.

3. S, my dear cubicle mate, had a great idea for a photo to hang on the wall at my new office so that I would not miss her. It is below:



4. I wrote the front page article for the next newsletter and am particularly pleased with the outcome. I have added it below:

Be An Agent of Change

Life is change.

From the moment we are born, our bodies are in a constant state of change. Even when we achieve our full height, every cell in our bodies is renewed over a cycle spanning several years. Outwardly, we see our hair and nails grow. Inwardly, the changes are just as present.

Each experience we have shapes us, molds us. Each time we experience something, we process and absorb bits and pieces of that experience. Sometimes it is feelings. Sometimes it is knowledge. Sometimes it is preferences. Whatever the experience, each time we are changed by it.

As a reader, I am known to pick up a favored book again and again—something many readers cannot quite understand with all the good books out there and just a short lifetime in which to read them. But, for me, a year would not be complete unless I make my way through the incredibly delightful tomes of James Herriot. I chuckle each time he sets out to visit his fellow vet Granville Bennett because no matter how sophisticated he desires to be, James inevitably looks the fop. I know that I will enjoy a great guffaw in those sections, but each time I also savor them in a different manner. Sometimes I am admiring the craftsmanship of the author. Sometimes I am in need of laughter in my own life. Sometimes I am curious as to how any individual would wish to consume pickled onions.

A close friend abhors change. She fights it tooth and nail, railing about the injustice of it all. Only after she has reached the other side can she see that she has grown, has learned, and can accept the change as something good in her life.

Foster children live lives that are the epitome of change. Their experiences, prior to becoming a foster child, are often negative, changing them in ways that one would not choose if given the option. Once in care, they have people come in and out of their lives. They lose friends and homes, neighborhoods and schools. Change, then, can become fearful to them, something to be dreaded rather than embraced.

Therefore, it is one of the challenges that Foster Parents face: teaching the children who come into their care that changes, whether expected or unexpected, are in actuality opportunities to learn and to grow. Changes, even those accompanied by less than pleasant experiences, can ultimately be a very good thing.

After all, change is life.

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NOTE: Last night I figured out how to add a wee something special to the website I built about Honey Speak. Go to www.honeyspeak.com and check out the interior pages!