
It was a Friday and I didn't know it at the time, but the world would start falling apart the next Monday. We had already been given guideance to include hand sanitizer at in-office meetings and, although it seemed like a little too little, we were taking whatever precautions we could. But I remember a looming dread.
I working on a meeting for mid-March that would include international travelers, and, at this point, I was concerned about that but since only a couple had cancelled, I thought that maybe the threat wasn't as bad as it seemed. Like many of us, I was in a partial denial about this.
It was on this day that I think I took my last photo of the view from my desk. Here's why this is important. You see, I've been a freelance event planner for most of my career and my current job offered something I'd never really had before - a desk with a view and a pretty spectacular view it was. On days when I just couldn't give anymore, I'd look at that view, and that would seem to make it all OK.
As a side note, in the last perm role (that probably should be "perm" since it seems nothing is permanent anymore) I sat at a table facing a wall for the first year or so. The second year, we moved to a new floor and I had a cubicle. The view was 'over there' (I did not move fast enough to get a cubicle near a window! lol) but I felt triumphant that I had a cubicle. Now, I realize that for life long cubicle junkies, a cubicle is not a big deal. But it is to me.
The other piece of this is that we have in my company a concept called "hoteling" where you sign up to sit in a desk. To make it 'yours' you have to have sat there for a certain percentage of the bulk of several months. I had spent the first 7 months working there doing everything I could to hold on to that desk! I worked in two offices so yes I admit it, there would be days when I'd go to THIS desk, check in, and turn around and go to the other office. That's how bad I needed some stability.
But, finally, I was awarded the desk as "mine". This happened in Januaryish, I think. So I didn't end up having much time in "my" desk then and I suppose that in the future I will either not actually go back at all or will have 'lost' this desk and will wander around. Although, really, who knows what the new office layout will even look like. I'm mostly more concerned with the elevators. Walking up 37 flights of stairs every day isn't really an option.
Anyway, it was a great great cubicle while I sat there and I'm glad that I snagged a lot of pictures. Perhaps I should make this photo into a wall-sized photo and pretend I'm still there! :)