here goes...

I sat down with my superiors yesterday at work to tell them about my desire to move to New York. They were very supportive.

It's like getting on one of those ridiculously frightening fair rides, or on a waterslide, or what more adventurous individuals might attest skydiving is like. You get all full of anticipation in the time leading up to it (oftentimes anxiety in my case, as I am the constant worrier), but then you come to a point where you have to finally make the decision to jump. It was scary right before, but then you just have to take a deep breath and do it, or say it, as the case may be. And after making the decision, the jump, it's exhilarating. I took my coworker I work with most directly out to coffee and told him, and although the first minute was a little awkward, it's so great to have it out there, to have someone I'm close to on board with the plan, and not have to be cagey or unsure about anything.

Of course right now I'm just in that very first few seconds of freefall, which are all glory and excitement, the thrill of getting used to the idea that it's actually happening after all. It's not any logistics or work at this point. I'm waiting to start coordinating the scheduling and details of the transfer, but I'm really excited about the move. ...Of course, this is all contingent upon the office really truly wanting me after all.... I recently found out that the NYC office is very progressive in addition to being successful, and there are many more senior designers, and some very cool policies in effect there. So I'm hoping that the moving arrangements, and the salary adjustment will also be a good deal, and it will all be clearly the right move.

Of course it's hard, especially for me, to leave so much behind. To acknowledge that you are choosing to leave is a big deal. And though my friends, family, and coworkers have expressed that they'll miss me, everyone has been so supportive in agreeing it's a great opportunity. I think they have to counter my guilt in "abandoning" things. My concern was in leaving my project work, and closest colleague, behind. And though he acknowledged that it will take some finessing to transition my projects out (I serve a kind of unique role in a few of them), he expressed a lot of support as well, and it is such a relief to have that over with. I'll miss some of the privileges I've had in our small Seattle office, and definitely the great people, but I am very excited for the opportunities that await me.

Onward and upward! Yay!

Now I just have to get the NYC office to respond to me in a timely manner. They're pretty hard to track down, I've found.

Hopefully, to use the jumping-off analogy, I won't smack into anything on the way or toward the end. Should be a decent process, given the policy of the firm supporting movement between offices, and paying for moving expenses. And hopefully, unlike a slide, I won't end up at the other side with a wedgie.