I'm FREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Hip, hip, hooray, it's a beautiful day!  Yaaaaaayyyyy!  Thank you, God!!

I am ALL done at St. Anthony's.  My car is full of more than enough crap to prove that I just made a major life change.  So is my room.  

But I'm doooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnne!!!!!!!  It's been a really, really tough year, and I'm soooooo excited to move on to a new challenge and adventure.  And what's almost as exciting is that tomorrow I HAVE THE DAY OFF!!!!!!  Holy mackerel, I'm SO ready.  I am currently suffering from an EXTREME lack of sleep and I'm super hoping a day of sleeping in, cleaning my room (and hopefully car) spending some time with my roommate, going to the gym, and maybe making some more jam will be just the cure my lil' body is hoping for tomorrow.  Oh, how I need a day off!  :)

And I think my new job is going to ROCK!

So, yeah, I'll tell you that there are definitely things I'll miss about working at the church.  One of the sweetest ladies I know hugged me today and said, "Jen!  I'm really going to miss you!  I cried last week when they announced that you were leaving."  Awww.  That's nice.  And another older couple left me a card with money in it...a couple that I am not even sure I could point out to you in a crowd.  Sweet, huh?  I literally got mobbed by all these amazing people telling me they were sad I'm leaving, etc.  It was very, very nice.  But the community and the congregation there has always been fantastic, and that was never a reason I was choosing to leave.

I had my exit interview on Friday morning...oh, man.  Let's just say it was 2 hours long, and I did most of the talking.  It's good to be able to speak your mind and raise concerns and point out problems in such a way that when you finish, the other person can say things like, "I don't think you're crazy.  I definitely think these are problems and I'll really need to think about the things you've said and try to fix some things," or "You've done a great job here and I am happy to be a reference for you any time," and "We'll miss you here, and you are always welcome if you want to come out and sing or visit or whatever."  Man, it was such a relief to have that over with!!  But I really did feel good about telling him all the things I did--always nice to get those things off your chest, and all the better if you can figure out how to be constructive and productive about it.  It was a really good conversation, and not all that stressful or hard.  Yay!

Quitting a job is hard work, though!  I mean, at least if you're trying to do a good job and leave things in a good place for whomever will follow.  I have been frantically working all week, and finally was able to get the heck out of dodge about 1:30 today.  

So now I'm done.

And I'm on my time off, thank you very much.

When I called my dad today, he said, "How does it feel to be unemployed for a day?"  

I'll tell you how it feels:

FANTASTIC!