I Can Quit!

The day that I've been waiting for for three years has finally come. I can quit. My employer paid for my Master's Degree with the stipulation that I work for them for three years. I have fulfilled my obligation. This year was the roughest for me so far. Crazy parents, crazy colleagues, crazy caseload, and I seriously contemplated finding employment elsewhere at the end of the school year. However, I also realized this year that I also have wonderful parents, wonderful colleagues, and, hmm, well, still crazy caseload. Like the rest of life, with the lows also came the highs and the good far outweighed the bad. Alright, the pay raises that we've been getting also helped with the decision. Anyway, I'm not leaving anytime soon, but it's nice knowing that I now have options.

Megan's wedding was this weekend and so I got to spend some time with some of my friends from grad school. Grad school was the toughest two years of my life and I often refer to that time as my dark period. And it was, it most definitely was. However, a lot of good came out of it (okay, well, other than the whole Master's Degree, career thing). I met and became friends with a bunch of fantastic people that I probably would never have met otherwise. During those years, these people were my family. We all had our own families and friends outside of school, but we all spent a good deal of time with each other. At the time, we were the only ones who understood each other. Everyone else around us tried, but we were really the only ones who understood that 3 year olds could be terrifying and that comps was not just another test. Now that grad school is over, we have all returned to our outside friends and family and we don't get to see each other very often. We're all so different but still, after all this time has past, I still have so much fun when I see them. Whether it's sharing hilarious stories from work or playing pass the baby, I'm always entertained when I see them. Huh, never thought I'd find something positive about my dark period.