Ladies and gentlemen....I QUIT!

My o' my.  Handing in my resignation was a lot more difficult than i thought it would be.  But, once it was over, I felt amazing relief.  I was practically falling asleep on the way home from the office.

I knew that I would have to wait until at least 11am EST because my boss was in Phoenix at the time, and that would make it 8am there.  Made for one heck of a long morning, i'll tell ya.  I was actually shaky.  I am still not sure why.   I am more than confident in my decision, but still.  There must have been something about having worked and succeded for the past 6 years in the same company that made this more stressful than say, giving notice after less than a year or something.    Anyway,  I sent my boss an email telling her to give me a call as soon as she was both near a phone and hooked up to the company's network.  I wanted to make sure that I sent her the email while we were on the phone together.  I didn't want her to read it without my actually being on the line with her.  It just seemed more appropriate.    So when I got a call from her at almost 11am, I figured she got my email.  Turns out, however, that she did not get my email.  She was calling from the airport in California on her way to Phoenix, but she was delayed, and needed some phone numbers from me.  UGH!  So i couldn't say anything.  This went on 4 more times between 11am and about 3:30 pm my time.  Each time the phone rang I was certain she was hooked up to the network, but she wasn't.   She finally arrived in Phoenix, got to the facility and hooked up to the network and called me.  I was actually shaking when I hit the 'send' button on my Outlook.  She told me she got it and to wait a second while she opened it up.  She began to read it out loud.  She got past the first several words..."it is with deep regret that I submit to you this letter of resignation..." before saying  "NO NO NO!!" really loudly.  I felt awful.  Once she regained control, she continued, occasionally stopping to add some sort of editoral comment like "Why couldn't you just be pregnant or something simple like that??". 

When she began the next paragraph about my reason for leaving and my acceptance into Commissioned Officer Training for the Air Force, the tone of the entire conversation changed.   She became proud of me. She said she understood and that she still loved me and that I could come back any time.  Sweet relief.  Of course, when she told our business executive, her initial reaction was "Why couldn't it have been one of my F---ing loosers who quit??"  Actually, a very sweet sentiment from a powerful executive if you think about it.   And she too, left the door open for me if I ever choose to return to the company. 

So my clock is officially ticking, and I am down to my final two weeks.  I am spending my time attempting to transition my projects to my colleagues, and with each successful transition, I become more and more excited about my final day.  Bittersweet as it may be.