Friday, May 19, 2006
Sweet Sorrow
Today is my last day as an employee of the East Bay SPCA. After four years (okay, nearly four years. It would have been four years at the end of June), I am packing up my leash and treat bag and moving out of the state. Since the SPCA can't keep me on as a long distance correspondent, I have to say goodbye.I've learned an amazing amount in the time I've spent here. I've seen things that make me smile and will for years in the future, like the thirteen-year-old who asked that her presents for her Bat-Mitzvah (a Jewish coming of age ceremony) be instead donations for the animals at the SPCA. And I've seen things that will creep into my nightmares, like the abandoned kittens who were so sick their eyes were crusted shut and who were covered in ants besides. I've met a colorful collection of characters from co-workers to clients, from cats to canines (that was seven 'c's if you were trying to keep count). I've watched and been a part of stories that will fascinate and/or horrify people, and you better believe I plan on telling them. I am not the person I was when I first arrived at the East Bay SPCA. I am wiser, better at the skills I've learned here, and boy do I know a whole lot more about dogs than I used to.
To better facilitate the many queries that leaving will create, I've put together this nifty set of 'Frequently Asked Questions'.
Q: You said you're leaving the state. Where are you moving to?
A: I'm moving to Ohio.
Q: Ohio??
A: Yup. Ohio. Cleveland, Ohio more specifically.
Q: What the heck is in Ohio?
A: Many things, but the short answer is that my family is there and I've wanted to move closer to them for a while. Now seemed like the right time.
Q: What are you going to do there?
A: I don't know for sure. My current plan is to try and work part time with a Cleveland animal rescue organization, and also to try and start my own dog training business.
Q: Your own business, huh? What will you call it?
A: I have absolutely no idea. I'm trying to come up with a name that's witty without being corny. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
Q: Don't you have, like, twenty dogs? What are you going to do with them?
A: I have four dogs. They're coming with me and my fiancee in our Honda Civic Hybrid. We're all six going to drive cross country.
Q: And your stuff?
A: That's coming in a moving van we hired to shlep it all to Ohio.
Q: Will you miss me?
A: Yes, [insert name here], I will miss you very very much.
It has been a pleasure and a privilege working here. Thank you, everyone, for having me.
