It’s Tuesday, March 11. I’m sitting at my desk in my home office, staring at an “exit clearance” checkist, and wondering how in the hell I got here.

Friday, March 14, is my last day of employment with the FLRA. Since that’s “Pi Day,” I deserve a slice of pie after dinner, right?? 😎

I have a gazillion thoughts and emotions running through me right now. As I reflect back on my career with the FLRA, there was so much more good than bad. So that’s what I’m going to focus on with this blog: the good.

I started my career in the Atlanta Regional Office in October 1997. I was blessed to work for one of the most amazing women I’ve ever met, Brenda Robinson. She was whip-smart, funny and a truly kind soul. Sadly, she died from brain cancer only 2 years after I was hired. But I learned more from her in those 2 years than I’ve learned from anyone else in 26 years. She taught me the basics of the job (as any good boss should), but more importantly, she taught me how to communicate and educate with compassion; to emphasize with the people I was trying to help. It wasn’t until many years later that I grasped the importance of that trait. It gave me a human connection with people, and went a long way to building the trust with them that I needed to be able to help them through tough situations.

Brenda also did something that I will never forgot, and that always makes me laugh. The Atlanta Falcons were playing the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl in 1999. Brenda, not knowing ANYTHING about football, thought it would be a good idea to bet the Denver Regional Director that Atlanta would win. We tried to tell her that was a bad idea, but Brenda would have none of that. Not surprisingly, Atlanta got their ass kicked, and we (the employees of Atlanta office) had to sing “Rocky Mountain High” to the entire agency at our next conference. Can you say humiliation??? 😂 It’s kinda’ ironic that I went on to work for the Denver Office in 2010….

I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about all of the other amazing FLRA attorneys that I worked with over the years. We laughed (a lot), screamed, cussed, cried and became a family. I made life-long friendships that I know will extend past this coming Friday. We shared a common bond of helping federal employees navigate through the often rough political waters at their agencies.

Lemme back up just a minute and give a brief explanation. The people who serve as Union representatives for the employees at federal agencies are not hired to do that job- they are hired to fulfill the mission of the agency they work for, whether that’s SSA, the VA, the Air Force…wherever. They volunteer to serve as Union representatives. Let me be the 1st to tell you that’s not an easy job. They are certainly not experts in all things labor law. So that’s where my colleagues and I came in. We took pride in serving as their subject-matter experts, advising them on whatever crazy thing might be happening in their workplace. As I reflect back on that, I will admit that it was very rewarding.

Back to my colleagues. They are all some of the most dedicated, enthusiastic and brilliant people I’ve ever met. The thought of not being able to talk to them when I need them, to run a case scenario by them, brings me to tears. I will miss them terribly.

I also want to take a minute to thank (although I’m not sure any of them will ever read this blog) the thousands of federal employees that I was lucky enough to assist over the past 26 years. Without knowing it, these people helped me grow as a human. From a high-strung, perfectionist, and ridiculously “type A” 25 year-old to a much calmer, but still “type A,” 53 year-old. Like I mentioned above, I learned the importance of empathy, of being a good listener, of communicating in a way that didn’t always sound like a lawyer. As time went on, and I got better in the job, these employees and managers would often call me, out of the blue, asking for my advice. The fact that they were stuck, didn’t know what to do, and chose to call ME, meant the world. That’s what I mean when I use the word “trust.” It’s a powerful thing.

These are the memories I will carry with me into my next endeavor. I don’t know exactly what that will be, but I am confident that I will land something even better; something that I will be happy to do for the next few years. And, SPOILER ALERT, since so many of you have told me that I would make an excellent coach, I am considering adding some kind of coaching to my personal brand… 😎 Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks….

As always, thanks for your reading, and thanks for your continued support! ❤️

P.S. If you’re interested in a website like mine, or want to make some updates to your current one, click button below to grab a FREE guide, detailing the 5 web pages everyone needs.