It’s my last day at CHO and I tried to be as present as I could in order to appreciate the place I called my second home for the past 10 years.

The week started on Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend and Teresa was there for her one day of work there. We got to do one final co-treat together in the morning and it was like old times.

I’ve been taking home one bag of stuff home each day for the past two weeks but somehow my desk still looked intact that day.

On Wednesday, I had my last All-Staff Meeting and got everyone together for a group photo. I’m missing some key people in the photo but loved having whoever I could all at once. My manager also took me out for lunch as part of my exit interview.

On Thursday, I had one last bowl of the trusty steel cut oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins from the cafeteria. We also went out for our usual Thursday lunch and Mai joined us with Cece.

We ate at the cheese shop and then went across the street for Pete’s as usual.

Ranee also worked that day and we had our last official work day together.

Waaaaah! I also said goodbyes to some key people who would not be working on Friday so it was the start of the end for me.

On Friday, I snapped a few photos of what I saw everyday. This is the red light that I would often have to wait at before going into the parking structure.

This is the stairwell that I climbed day in and day out. I had gotten pretty good at climbing up at least 2-3 flights at a time over and over again.

I arrived pretty early and got a photo of the entrance to our gym/office. It’s a pretty nice place to work.

This is what a typical morning also looks like. We were all crammed into his one long staff office working side by side. It was crazy at times but so nice to have everyone together in one place.

I was lucky enough to get assigned a corner desk with a view of the courtyard and 100-year-old magnolia tree outside. This is what my desk looked like 10 years ago back when we didn’t have our own computers and still wrote notes by hand. By Friday, my desk was cleared out and all I had left to take home was an orchid and a binder that I had left so I could finish some paperwork.

I brought in donuts one last time and made sure I brought enough for everyone. My caseload was pretty light that day and I had enough time to pack up some last minute things, deliver thank you cards.

I also went to say goodbye to the Clinical Nutrition department at lunch. I worked so closely with them on so many feeding cases and made some good friends along the way.

By the end of the week, I received and gave numerous hugs and words of encouragement.

The last person I said “see you later” to was Nicole. She is the last remaining friend that has been with me full-time for the past 10 years. I handed over our pet beaver for safe keeping and we got one last photo at work together.

I turned in my badge and keys at the end of the day and walked out with a huge weight lifted off of me. Here’s to a new adventure in the big big world of Kaiser!