Defying Gravity

 Close My Eyes and Leap

I've done it.

I turned in my resignation. We are now committed to leaving Ohio.

After talking about it and talking about it, we decided that the only way to move forward with the dream was to actually move forward.

It was time for the quarterly Employee Talent Talk with the supervisor. It's an opportunity to answer some questions about what I've been up to, what I'm proud about accomplishing, what my supervisor is doing well, and are there any obstacles I need to address. This is all very important information the HR department needs. I dutifully filled out the form. I scheduled a meeting with my supervisor. We discussed my answers, and then she asked if there was anything else I wanted to talk about.

There was.

I've been with this company for 23 years. My supervisor and I shed some tears, but she understood and was ultimately not truly surprised. She had been expecting this, just not so soon, she said.

I know how she feels. Talking about it and actually doing it are two different things. I wasn't convinced I would go through with it until I handed her my letter of resignation. And even as I slid the paper across her desk I wondered if I would snatch it back before she read it. Visions of possible futures branched out from my mind's eye. In some of them Jon and I are happily living in New York in a small but serviceable apartment; in others I'm wandering the streets, dirty and alone, confused as my memories hide in dark corners of a failed mind.

But I let her have the paper. I've told my co-workers.

We're going to go for it.