Darwin For Change!

A few Fridays ago was Debbie’s last day before retirement from the city of Phoenix. It was also the end of my second week of my first full-time job at the City of Phoenix. And then Sunday night I went to dinner with Nan, who left Phoenix for a Department Chair position at a university in Salt Lake City.

If that week was any more stuffed with change, my pockets would be rattling. Excusing the metaphor, it’s a problem that a lot of people of my generation have. And being a part of the iGeneration, it also means that I am claiming that my week was worse than others going through this same transition.

You see, Debbie and Nan were/are both mentors of mine. I have known Debbie since I came to a meeting in the spring of 2000. She was director of Youth and Education Programs, which oversaw the Youth and Education Commission, which I joined a year or two later as a youth member. Since then, Debbie has offered me two jobs, career and personal advice and counseling, and so much more. She means the world to me.

And Nan, I met in my first class at ASU, during my undergrad senior year. I have researched with her, worked on Canalscape and taken three of her classes. And now, I live in a house that she rents to my roommate and I. There is so much I could say about her, but I will refrain from being too drippy. Suffice it to say, she is more than a professor, she is a friend.

It has been bittersweet, but worth it. I am in a new job – one I have been dreaming about for years – and I love every minute of it. It’s challenging, fun, fascinating, and exactly what I have been wanting to do for many years. I never want to leave. But I will describe my job in specifics in another post.

When I reflect on my life today, in this moment, I look back three months and I see a life quite a bit different from the one I have now. Which is wonderful, in its own way. Change is constant, and I’m moving forward.

So I have sought mentors in my current work environment that can help see me through the remainder of my career. Debbie and Nan will hopefully be there for me for a long time, but that inside-view mentoring is crucial too. So I have asked around, and I’m trying to find the right person.