The Remains of the Day

At 5:00 a.m. the alarm clock buzzed. Not wanting to leave the warm toastiness of my bed, I hit snooze 'til just past 5:30. "Maybe I'll take the later train," I thought.

But once up, I managed to hustle through my early morning routine - walk Max, shower, blow-dry, dress, gulp some coffee and a cereal bar, feed Max - and made it in time to take the regular 6:45 train after all.

So I was at the office in plenty of time for the 9:30 staff meeting. Next time, remind me not to rush, because by 9:45, I was out of a job. In fact, everyone was. As of today, the 20 person unit of the Fortune 500 company for which I worked no longer exists. Poof, gone. Just like that. Amazing.

Cleaning out my desk was a bit of a revelation. Pushing aside all the manila file folders and post-its that seemed so important just a few minutes before, this is what I was left with. A picture of me and Jeff smiling on a happy Aruba vacation many years ago. Ticket stubs from the magical '04 Red Sox season. Pictures of my amazing, incredible soccer star nephew. A pretty calendar that I got for free somewhere. Altoids, a purple pen, toothpaste, awesome scented hand cream and a snack. And my phone. That's about it. Everything else was pretty meaningless to me. Yes, that's a train schedule there on top. Won't be needing that anymore...

Now what? I have no idea. But stay tuned, because I have a feeling it's going to be an adventure.