Our Weekend - My Last Day of Work + Olivia’s First GA Game

Well, I survived my last day of work last week.  I’m not going to lie, it was rough.  Rough, y’all.  I may or may not have cried pretty much the entire day on Friday.  Sigh.  The whole day consisted of cleaning out my desk and telling everyone goodbye and everyone was pretty somber most of the day. 

I sent out emails to all of my accounts Thursday and Friday to let them know I was leaving, and the majority of the responses went a little something like this:

Pretty much everyone was shocked that I was leaving, most were pretty sad, and a few even begged me not to go.  At least it’s nice to know that I was loved. 

My coworkers showered me with gifts – a handmade wooden Georgia football, lotto tickets, movie tickets, Christmas coffee mugs and tea, WINE (they know me so well!), a sweet card that everyone signed, and even a handmade wooden dish to put my jewelry in along with the perfect note that really hit home.  Very fitting for this week.

Our department took me out for Mexican at lunch on Friday and my supervisor who has known me since the beginning proceeded to tell everyone crazy and funny stories from our past travels and work parties together.  Everyone laughed, a lot of us cried, and it was just a really, really sad (but special) day. 

My exit interview was at 4 and it went really well.  They asked all kinds of questions, the very first of which was, “Why are you leaving?”  I proceeded to tell them the entire story of what happened with HR.  The person who did my interview was pretty shocked and he told me he would pass all of the info along to our HR Director.  I’m sure nothing will come of it, but it felt good to get it all out there.  I wanted them to know that I wasn’t leaving by choice. 

After my interview was over, it was time for the hardest part of the day… saying goodbye.  I made the rounds giving hugs and crying with each person, even doubling back for seconds from a few of them.  It was a very, very emotional afternoon, and I was mentally and physically exhausted by the time I got home.

When I walked in and saw B I fell apart again and pretty much continued to cry off and on for the rest of the evening.  It was pretty pitiful. 

We stayed home and had a family movie night because I know I couldn’t trust myself out in public since the water works kept turning themselves on at random times, so we watched Wreck It Ralph with the kiddos and then I fell into a deep sleep on the couch while B watched Stranger Things.

Fortunately we had big plans on Saturday which was just what the doctor ordered.  I was so thankful for that because otherwise I probably would have hung around the house wallowing in my self pity all day.  Haha.

We headed to Athens bright and early Saturday morning for our first Georgia game as a family of four!  Last year we took Jacob to his first game, but this weekend was Olivia’s very first.

We hit up downtown Athens for some lunch at Transmetropolitan first.  It was the perfect day for some outdoor seating and some brewskies!  We then did a little bit of shopping at our favorite boutique, and then we headed to the quad near the arch to let the kids run around for a bit before heading to the stadium.

We had to get a family picture in front of the stadium first, and then we headed in.  Olivia was completely enamored with the sights and the sounds and everything else that goes along with the college football scene.  We made our way to our seats early enough so they could be involved with all of the pregame activities – the alma mater, the National Anthem, the jets flying over, and the trumpet salute.  Both of them just ate it all up!

Right when the first quarter started Olivia said, “I’m ready to go home.”  Haha.  I thought at that point the evening would end in disaster, but things actually went very well.  She never asked again after that, and she and Jacob were content waving their pom poms and cheering on the team.

They both started to get a little rowdy toward the end of the first quarter so I took them down for ice cream and popcorn, and then we headed back to our seats. 

Jess from The Newly was at the game and her season tix just so happen to be eight rows in front of ours in the same section, so she and I met up during halftime and it was so cool to meet her in person!  She and I have been reading each other’s blogs for several years so I feel like I already “know” her, so meeting her in person was kind of surreal but also felt very comfortable.  You’ll be happy to know that she is every bit as lovely in person as she is on her blog.  <3  We, of course, had to get a picture because obviously if we didn’t get a picture then it didn’t actually happen.  ;o)  So B, being the good blogger hubby that he is, snapped a few for us!  

During the second half of the game I kept waiting for the kids to start complaining and get grumpy but they never did.  Both of them were so well behaved and they were both really into the game.  Olivia spent most of the time eating her “pop-cowen” and  standing up in her seat and cheering and shaking her little pom pom. 

At the beginning of the fourth quarter our band always plays the theme song from Superman, and everyone pulls out their cell phones and turns on the flashlights to light up the stadium.  The kids were in awe over that.  Shoot, I’m always in awe over that!  Haha.  It’s SO COOL.

We had a significant lead toward the end of the game, so we headed out a few minutes early to try to beat most of the traffic.  Again, when it was time to leave, I thought for sure both kids would complain and say that they were too tired to walk back to the car, but they were both total BOSSES and they walked back by themselves as happily as can be.  The walk back to the car is about a mile and it is ALL uphill on the way back, but both of them took it in stride.  I couldn’t believe it. 

By the time we made it back to the downtown area, Olivia did request to be carried, so B carried her the last couple of blocks to the car.  We settled them in with their DVD players, and then we hit the road. 

The whole day was just perfect in every way – the weather, the game, our huge win, and all of our wonderful family time. 

We did run into an issue on the way home that could have been SO TERRIBLE, but our guardian angels were watching out for us for sure.

As we were heading up the main four lane road that runs through Athens, all of a sudden a deer came running across the street.  The car next to us hit it super hard and it made a sickening crunch.  The deer flew up in the air and landed in the road right in front of our car while we were going about 45 mph.  B had to swerve to not hit it.  If we had been 1-2 seconds ahead it would have landed right on our windshield and I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if that had been the case.  The car that hit it swerved off to the side of the road and I’m just praying that they are all okay.  We couldn’t pull over because the traffic was so thick and we were in the middle lane.  I’m just thankful that nobody behind or beside us hit us when we swerved.  Whew.

After our scare, we stopped at Chick-Fil-A for a quick dinner, and then we made the drive home.  Both kids were out like lights by the time we arrived.

Sunday we did our typical family things – lunch with my in-laws and dinner with my parents.  We needed lots of time to relax after such a crazy day before.

Today marks my first official day as a stay at home mom.  I think today will go well because of the fact that it’s Thanksgiving week.  Jacob and Olivia will be home with me all week and B will be home Wednesday – Friday.  Next Monday, however, should be interesting.  It will be my first day home without the kids (and no holidays) so hopefully I won’t end up in another pool of tears from missing my coworkers.  Haha.

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments these last couple of weeks as I made this transition.  It was such a whirlwind, and I’m still reeling from it.  I am still incredibly behind on life stuff (y’all should see my house – it is positively filthy!), blog stuff, and my emails, but I promise to get back to each of you eventually… it’s not likely it will happen this week with the holiday coming up, but I guess I now have every single day of my life to catch up on everything because – I don’t work anymore.  What?!

I hope you all have a great day today!

*Linking up with B Loved Boston for Weekending, My Glittery Heart for Hello Monday,  More Pieces of Me for Hello Monday Linkup, and HoHo Runs for Weekly Wrap.