Saturday, June 14, 2008

Has It Been A Week?



This time last week I was washing dishes and cleaning up after Julie's going away, where we sacrificed meat and Boca burgers on the grill for her good fortune in New York.

When you sit beside someone at work for 40+ hours a week they get to know you better than anyone. And certainly Julie learned things about me in the two years she sat behind me that most people didn't know.

She listened to my stories, heard my phone conversations and was often the first person to hear what was happening in my life. And I learned a lot about her.

What was wonderful about sitting beside Julie was that she always had a hilarious reply to whatever the situation was. Be it trivial or seemingly important at the time, talking to Julie about it always made it seem better. She helped me sort things out and gave me another perspective.

She and Kari and I were the three amigos at our last job. And we had the odd fortune of all leaving at the same time, so none of us had to sit in our cubicle and miss the other. That was 8 months ago and still we start a new thread of emails every few days to catch up, talk about our weeks and make plans. It's remarkable, really, we've continued to do this for so long.

But now Julie's dispatches will come via her office in Manhattan and her new place in Greenwich. Thankfully she's already sent us one, letting us know that her cross-country trek behind the wheel of a U-Haul went safely.

I'm still in denial. I'm sure she'll be over in the fall once Thursday Office Nights are back on. You'll be there, right Julie? Julie?

Jules?! You there?!

(Sniff, sniff, is it dusty in here?)

2 comments:

Kelly said...

OMG I'm depressed now. Office night will never be the same.

Anonymous said...

OK, well I didn't want to ruin the surprise but I was planning to fly back every Thursday. (What? Stay here and watch Office Alone?!) Omg. BTW: I'm currently a little homesick and this was like the nicest thing to read ...ever. Ah, desk chat. I do miss those!