—“Hello Katrina, Time’s almost up! It must seem like only yesterday that you changed your password but it’s time to change it again. Your password will be expiring in just 3 days.”—
This was an email I received earlier this week from tech-support. If I had read this in “normal times”, I would not have bat an eye. But we are not living normally anymore…we are in the midst of the “new normal”, and major part of my new normal is that my employment with Southwest Airlines will come to an end this week. So, you can see how this message caused me to take pause and think. After an hour of doing other things to get my day started, I glanced back at my in-box and saw the words again: “Time’s almost up!”. How many times have we heard that in our lifetime? “Time’s almost up, students. Finish what you are working on and put down your pencils.” “Time’s almost up, folks, the bar is closing in 10 minutes.” “Time’s almost up. Insert 25 cents to continue your call.” Ok, maybe I dated myself on that last one, but you get the point.
Eventually I gave in later that morning and changed my password, but I simply could not get those words out of my head. They were there, buzzing in my ear, like that annoying mosquito at a backyard bar-b-que. Then suddenly I realized why they lingered in thought…they are right…my time is almost up! In just a few short days, my time at Southwest is up. My breath stopped for a moment. It’s been 5 years of laughs, celebrations, and challenges. 5 years of meetings and phone calls. 5 years of resume reviews, interviews and job offers. 5 years of absolutely amazing things with absolutely amazing people! And yes, it does seem like only yesterday that I walked into headquarters.
These five years have flown by and might be coming to an end, but I don’t feel like my time is actually up, only this chapter. As we rapidly approach the hours of Friday, tic toc tic toc, I reflect on the numerous other moments in life in which my time was up, and I realize…I just need to reset my clock.
aKats9lives 