random thoughts – Day 1,858 – (Friday) – first and beyond

First day steps.

Nine years ago today, it was my first day at work. Before the big day, I had gone shopping with my cousin/first-day outfit consultant/shopping sensei Missy and she helped me find a great navy-blue suit with jacket, pants and skirt from Ann Taylor. 

On new job day one, I wore the pants and jacket with a blue and white striped cotton shirt, and a peach silk tie with blue accents as a belt. The shoes, bronze-metallic square toed pumps with a chain detail, were also new. It was a fresh start on all fronts. 

At the time, I was staying at Mom's, which meant commuting to Lowell from Fitchburg. Unfamiliar with the traffic on the route, I left early and landed in downtown early. It gave me a chance to walk around the block a bit and admire all the cobblestones on Middle, Palmer, and Shattuck Streets before reporting to the office.

First day, 4-18-2016.

That first day, the graphic designer also started. As first day welcome gifts, the marketing manager gave us each a plant, and there was a welcome sign. There were also some bank-branded items including a three-color highlighter and insulated lunch bag. Because we started in the middle of the month, our formal HR orientation wasn’t scheduled until May. There were lots of meet and greet conversations and meeting invitations and overviews of how things worked.

At noon, the marketing manager and department head took us to lunch at nearby Fuse Bistro. As we chatted at the table, the department head asked us if we had any vacation plans. It felt like the most surreal question four hours into the first day of a new job. At that point, neither of us had plans beyond getting through the nerves of the first day. Or maybe it was just me.

Once I passed the seven-year work-iversary, it was officially the longest I’d ever worked at a company. The timid first day plant gift had endured alternating stretches of being in need of life support and being lush and healthy. It always felt like a desktop barometer of my potential success in the job. It became a goal to see how long I could make it at the bank and if I could keep the plant alive. Beyond the ten year mark and all the way to retirement eventually became the goal. 

Life has a funny way of altering goals and plans, and the upcoming merger will derail this one. It’s okay. It will all work out. At least that is what I keep telling myself, as the last day at this work and the next first day creep closer. First day of what exactly, is still to be determined. My office plant is looking well and healthy again so I'm taking that as a sign.