Tears and cheers

Yesterday was rough. I told work I'm leaving on the voyage. I wasn't going to do it quite so soon, given that right now, life is pretty much going on as normal and I'm committed to my work and all that, but some things started changing in terms of my role and responsibilities and it was only fair to my colleagues to let them know.

I had been chatting with a few close friends and confidantes all week about how to handle this, because I am SO keen to treat my work colleagues (and really, they're friends now) as well as they've treated me. To the people who helped (you know who you are), THANK YOU - your advice and encouragement allowed me to keep up the confidence I needed to break the news, which I knew was going to throw a wrench in everyone's plans.

I decided to go to see our (fabulous, truly) CEO first, and I was shaky and antsy all day. He was absolutely wonderful about it and completely supportive, though I did get teary-eyed as it all started to become more real. I then had to pull myself together again to go and tell my amazing manager, where there were more tears but also more outpouring of support for me. I then had to do it AGAIN on the phone with my vice president and team leader (this time cheers with no tears) and then ONE MORE TIME to tell the general manager of our office via phone. Cheers from him too. I loved his initial reaction though, which was "Rats!", as I think that sums up the collective feeling of the team! One more round of tears (from me) after I put the phone down, and then calm. Exhausted, but happy, and sure I'd done the right thing. I will miss this crew immensely, though. They really are a marvelous bunch and blew me away with their raving about the work I've done for them and how much they'll want me back.

So, what now? Well, there's still TONS of planning to do. I still have no idea what I'm going to do where. I need to start booking some initial accommodations and things as it'll be the height of summer travel in some places. I HAVE booked my one-way ticket to the East Coast, so I'll be in San Fran for two months and two days more. Sadface. Oh and I've taken up yoga. As if I had time for ONE more thing...but it's actually really helped, as I've needed to find time to clear my mind. I've had my stomach in knots about the giving notice thing for a couple of weeks, so it's great to let that go now. I've also met a fabulous yoga instructor who's from India, and I've told him all about my trip and we're going to meet so he can give me some tips and tricks for travelling there - It'll be the first leg of the trip where I'm 100% alone (though 1 billion people live there, so I have a feeling I'll make some friends).

So, that's the update. If you hear some creaking and squeaking, that's me trying to master the 'crow pose'...owwwww