I worked this last 14 months.
It wasn’t mostly fixing flat tires, but there was rather a lot of that. This very last flat of my North Shore commute was immediately visible and rather easy to fix.
Which is rather emblematic of the actual end of my employment at KROHNE Inc. After rage-cry quitting back in March, I marshaled my ability to see the fundamentally good intentions of the people around me and agreed to an extended notice that fattened our cruising kitty and let me try to leave on smoother terms. They didn’t manage to hire a replacement so my final feeling is similar to the earlier one – frustrated and irritated and done.
No rage tears at the end, though. Instead, I had a lot of opportunities to share appreciation with my fellow workers and feel richer for being and giving the upshot of investing in doing good work.
Next, the really good works.
One of the greatest features of your lifestyle is how EARNED it all is. This post, just a few sentences, encapsulates a year and change of intense physical effort, emotional regulation, intellectual mastery and innovation, and ethical calisthenics daily. 11 hours a day of brutal commute and heavy lifting you did not want to do. But you did it, with earnest best intentions and vigorous good cheer.
And now that’s done. Spit-spat. And on you go.
As someone who agonizes all weekend about stupid dynamics at my 7 year job and complains about having to carry a load of laundry all the way to the basement, this operating mode is astonishing to me. Your lifestyle looks arduous, and it is, but the sailing is not where your extraordinary effort lies. It’s the daily plugging away in circumstances very few would tolerate, finding your way to improve the situations you become part of, and then the graceful ability to lightly lift away. They will miss you terribly. You’ll never think of most of them again.
Bon voyage, Captains! Fair winds to you!
(Also these pictures of you are fucking dreamy.)