Flashback Fridays: Of Girlfriends and Surge of Emotions

*This happened two Fridays ago. I just got too much stuff on my plate that I failed to finish it and publish right away.*

Funny how two awesome ladies from the office made me ecstatic at one point and melancholic on another. Girlfriends really are God's gift :-)

I'm sharing the happy part first, just because I wanna do it chronologically :P

When I was about to be transferred to this new project, I was so devastated I was actually crying in silence in my workstation. But you know how God has a way of turning things around? Even I was surprised that I can wholeheartedly say I am happy here. Not the I-want-to-stay-here-forever type but at least now I'm no longer dragging myself to work every friggin day. Well of course I still get stressed. The demanding workload is there, the pressure from the bosses is there, but despite those, I have an amazing friend to help me get through the all of them. Without further ado, I want you to meet K, the office buddy I'm destined to have :)

Just to give you a brief background, K isn't a total stranger. I've been seeing her around even before we were teammates because she always spearheads the creative department. I can still remember how she asked me to draw a gigantic candy cane for our Christmas village, good thing I came up with something like it. It was followed by discussions about user requirements and test scenarios. During those work-related talks we found out that we have a lot of things in common -- we both love artsy stuff, our desks are both cluttered, we both easily lose focus, and the list goes on. But the friendship became official that fateful day she asked me to join her for lunch - it's then that we found out that even our love story is similar! How cool is that?! :D

Okay, fast forward to three Mondays ago. We threw some sort of despedida for K because she's about to transfer to another team and the highlight of the event is this:

It's an artwork that we did so that she'll have a souvenir from the team she spent a year with. She always always draws whenever she explains work concepts (and she particularly loves doing it on A3) so we thought a sketch pad is perfect. When I saw how much she liked it, setting the test plan aside to complete it was well worth it.

I swear, her thank yous were more than enough but that certain Friday she showed up out of the blue with this:

As far as I remember, it's the first time someone from the office did something spontaneously sweet for me. I caught myself staring at it for minutes with a big smile on my face. K made my heart melt. She made me feel appreciated, and that's something all of us want every once in a while, right? :D

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Now on to the bittersweet part.

I think I've mentioned her here already: Lucy, my OT buddy. We used to spend late nights/early mornings in the office when I was still with my previous project.

A few hours after K made me feel giddy with the sweet treat, Lucy sent her farewell e-mail. Yup, she's taking a career leap, but with another company. Part of me is happy for her because it's a great opportunity for professional growth but a bigger part of me is sad that we had to say goodbye (for now).

Teary-eyed, I sent a simple reply saying that I'm gonna miss her and that we'll have Facebook anyway so we can always keep in touch. But really, what I  wanna say is thanks for going to the comfort room with me when it's just the two of us in the entire floor, for making me feel that it's okay to decorate one's cube and make it one's own, for keeping my hopes up that the TL's gonna approve my leave despite our heavy load, and for being the workmate that I expect her to be and more.

Surely, I'll miss Lucy. I'll miss how she eavesdrops my phone calls and PMs me her reactions. I'll miss how we talk about office rumors aka "salary increase"  or "performance review". I'll miss how she answers all my questions - work-related or not - without inhibitions. I'll miss how she gives me advice on how to keep my sanity intact because she's been there, done that.

Like she said in her e-mail, we'll see each other again, maybe become officemates again. But until that day comes,  all I can do is wish Lucy the best, only because she deserves nothing less.


*tissue, please? :P*