The process of leaving -- fully present while phasing out

As I am coming up on the end of my time here at the ranch, I have had the chance to try out some new things in my free time and spend most of my work time doing what I have enjoyed most about my job -- training, management, delegating, and giving people as much information as possible to set them up for success.

It's bittersweet, like any transition, and it's surreal to leave a place that has become my home over the past 2 years.  The people I work and live with have become my family.  I am so grateful that they chose to have me stay and work through the off season and into the beginning of this summer season. Ending my time working here in the beginning of the summer, in a training role, with everyone's excitement high and energy seemingly unlimited is the best way I can imagine to go out.

Along with that, I want to keep track of a few of the new adventures I have over my last two weeks, sum up some of the things that have become normal parts of my life that I may want to remember down the road, and maybe even share a picture or two.

Hope you enjoy the posts of the next few weeks.

Today

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." - T. S. Eliot

Why I like my ranch home: Wooden Beams

In the next week, I'll be moving from the little room that has been my home for over a year to a different place on the ranch for a couple of weeks and then on to Indiana and then ... ?

I've felt more nostaligic about leaving my little nook in the universe (aka my "house" at the ranch) than I had expected, so instead of just being mopey, it's time to celebrate the things I love and have loved about this little, Kristen-sized home.

You'll get a firsthand look, with one photo a day, of some of the quirks that have made this place so dear to me.

#1  

From a conversation at work today with Steve

"The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion.  He hardly knows which is which.  He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.  To him he's always doing both." -James A. Michener.

Question of the day:   What is the "art of living" and how do you master it?