Fluttery in Packrat

Events of the last week have me feeling invigorated!

The Professional. As it turns out, he had been thinking of me, too, remembering that same weekend nearly 20 years ago. I joked that it wasn’t that long ago because I’m not that old. If he remembered my faux pas (when I mentioned it back then he joked, “Is that a word in your language?”), he didn’t bring it up; we had a whole weekend of other memories as well as memories of other weekends and activities, other times and other places. Although we talked of what has happened in our lives since we were last present for each other, I felt (and I know this is cliché) as if no time had passed. Our sporadic communications kept a foot in the door so that talking to him wasn’t awkward; instead, I got silly at times.

But he knows there’s more to me than silliness; while he’s involved in something new in his working life I’m entering my 20th year in my position. I’ve been calling myself one of the old war horses; he commented, “You keep your people strong.”

Ahhh, see why I remember him so fondly?

War Horse Parade. Work related stuff. I finally had my evaluation and joked to Smart Man, “Is there an area where you can say, ‘Employee did nothing but lay around for six months?’” I yak far too much, and what likely could have taken only 30 minutes took an hour because something said always reminded me of something else. He asked that someone from HR be present as a witness and joked “in case it comes to blows”, so when he reached the question about whether I work well with others (being pretty self contained I don’t really interact with other departments that much business wise) I told him he’d better give me the average rating. “If you worried that this could come to blows, that tells me you have a question in your mind,” I joked, “and I have been walking around with a big stick (my staff, now abandoned)!”

But overall he gave me a great evaluation. He understands what I do and supports me 110%. He said so many good things that I said I hoped he didn’t expect me to leave his office soon because I wouldn’t be able to get my head out the door. He also understands that I love my job and notices that my car is always still in the parking lot after hours, that I am “on call” 24/7 (I was talking about history and customs to various people while in the hospital), and he made me feel appreciated. After reviewing my evaluation, I said, “I’d like to meet this person!”

I’m working on several projects that have me excited: exhibits, repatriations, law suits, projects to bring about cultural awareness to our kids, setting up visitations in some of our areas for one of our elected leaders (I asked the Wordsmith, “Do you have a red carpet for visiting dignitaries?”). I even had a call from out of the country, and even though it was after hours I called my counterparts, also for whom the clock is just a suggestion. There are just some days and achievements that make me sigh and think, “This is why we do what we do!”

Health. I need to head out for a doctor’s appointment to check my kidneys in a minute. This morning as I got ready for work and contemplated my bare foot with the missing toes, I wiggled my toes (I have my big toe and pinky toe) - the swelling has gone down so it was easier to do - and then couldn’t stop laughing. I’ve been describing it as my penguin foot because it looks like the Penguin’s foot in Batman, but the movement reminded me of a crab’s claw and the way the crabs were depicted in Finding Nemo. I kept doing it and laughing more; I’m easily amused!