Friday, September 30, 2005

Transistions

Before I left Washington, a good friend of mine asked me when the move would become real. He intimated that at some point on the drive I would complete my transistion from one place to the next. In retrospect, there were two such moments for me. One on the trip, though far earlier that he or I thought, and one long before I left.

The transistional moment came when, just a couple of days after I accepted my new position, I took the snow chains out of the trunk of my car and tossed them into the dumpster. That was a liberating moment as I freed myself from the trappings of an ice and snow ridden winter.

The second and more profound moment came on the drive. Upon my departure from Pullman I spent a few days in the Portland area visiting my brother's family. When I left there I drove up Interstate 84 through the Columbia River Gorge as I had every other time I had visited Portland. When I came to the point where in times past I had turned North to go to Pullman, this time I continued eastward. It was a truly emotional moment as I left the past behind and set out on my new adventures.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

Thoughts on moving

As one winds up one portion of their life and prepares to move on to the next some intersting thoughts and feelings come into play. I have already commented on the liberating feeling of letting go of physical stuff (though I still have a bunch). Even more interesting is the sense of release and regret as I let go of responsibilities that I have had. Part of the departure process has been to walk others through portions of my job and explain how and what I have been doing for the last six years. There have been things that I was more than happy to let go of, and others that I kind of feel like I will miss.

I am ready for the new challenges and experiences that await me. I must admit that moving to a state job in Mississippi is the cause of a slight amount of trepidation. That state's economy is going to be in the crapper for a while and there probably will not be much money for anything other than rebuilding. This is not to suggest that I do not believe that rebuilding should not have the priority, it should, I just mean that the position I am going to is slightly less secure than it was three weeks ago.

The very positive response I got on the job market this summer suggests that I should not have much to worry about if some sort of problem arises at Ole Miss.