Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: BUY - BYE (01/19/23)
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TITLE: A Stubborn Farewell | Previous Challenge Entry
By Linda Lawrence
01/25/23 -
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I’d given fifteen years of behind-the-scenes secretarial services to the university, but being the focus of a receiving line would be torture! This wasn’t humility pleading, this was survival. Well, maybe pride. I recognized my social awkwardness, struggling to remember people’s names, stumbling over words during small talk. I mostly avoided attending receptions for others—even though they offered an additional break from work with delectable refreshments. I understood this was tradition and meant to be an honor. But I’d rather wait, and if any reward is earned, receive it in heaven.
You’d think a 50-year-old woman would be ashamed of showing such immaturity in front of her supervisor. Well, I was ashamed, but she was a friend and I was more fearful of all the shame I would endure during and after a reception in my honor. Come on! I’m just a secretary working for the paycheck. A secretary isn’t my identity. It isn’t who I am! Can’t I just quietly retire to Oregon? Living in the cottage of my dreams on a tree-canopied street and a better job-situation for my husband was what I’d worked towards—not a retirement reception.
I’d never been confident at my job. Always felt I was walking on a tightrope, ready to slip. My boss and co-workers were wonderfully supportive and we made a workable team. What I really wanted was one-on-one outdoor sack lunches with my teammates. My supervisor knew me well and chose to honor me by granting my request. And she turned a forgiving eye on those picnic lunches that went a little over-time.
On my last day at work, besides “Good-bye” over and over, I was given a money gift from the department “to plant a tree at your new home.” There was no way I wanted to buy another tree for a yard that was completely shaded most of the year. Stubborn, aren’t I?
But the money was put to good use—hiring someone to trim back the towering arborvitae that lined the backyard. I got just what I wanted—a larger piece of sky.
Memoir
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