My last day at work was bitter-sweet and chocolaty

Today was a very surprising day and warm ‘n fuzzy kind of day. I went into my last day of work at the Boone County Health Department full of mixed emotions. On one hand it was nice to be gearing up for the Peace Corps (I leave in just SIX days!!!) but on the other hand I hate saying goodbye. I have to admit that I had wondered if there was something the scheming women and Bill had in mind since I know how they seem to generally plan things. When I came into work and there was no sign or anything up on my desk I figured that no plans had been made, which was ok since I was feeling a little down about the whole thing.

Around 11:15 or so I went to the break room to get some lunch, a tasty freezer burned peanut butter sandwich (which Bill so graciously helped me thaw) and noticed a bunch of ice cream in the freezer. I asked Bill what the ice cream was for and he nonchalantly responded, “I don’t know. Must be something the nurses are doing.” Hmm, ok then. Without suspicion I returned to my desk.

At about 11:30 Bill called me into his office to have my exit interview. We had just begun when the phone rang and Bill said I had to go with him to the back to see what they had just caught. Just caught, YUCK! I was thinking that was kind of nasty since I was just in back eating but nastier things have happened. When we were walking to the break room I noticed no one was at their desks and figured they were all looking at whatever was in the break room. To my horror when I rounded the corner I heard someone say they caught a bat!

I looked in the room and saw everyone and a large gold gift bag with tissue paper on the table. THEY PUT THE BAT IN THE GIFT BAG?!?! Then I saw all the ice cream treats on the counter and noticed that everyone looked pretty dang happy for just catching a bat. Ohhh…. I finally started to catch on. This was a surprise for me! How nice!!! They were so thoughtful to put together a bag of goodies of things I may need like bug spray, anti itch spray, toilet paper, and baby wipes (to clean the “stinky areas” after no shower”). I’m not sure what all I’ll need but I know that the things in that bag could come in handy!! They gave me a really great card too.

After we all enjoyed a little ice cream… ok, a lot of ice cream, it was back to work. But what a great day it became. Since I started this job more than a year ago I have gotten fleas, been chased by a LOT of dogs, lied too, yelled at and stepped in more piles of poop than I care to reminisce- this is my favorite job ever!:) Thanks everyone, it really means a lot:)!!!