The Beginning of the End

As mentioned, Asst 2 started a new job today - same company, new cubicle (but still the one next to you). And for the first time in the year and a half that I've been in DC, I was no one's assistant. I was given a phone that would ring only for ME (which is to say, almost never). Emails came today related only to the work I was doing. I scheduled nothing. I didn't print one single piece of paper. And I realized that, for the first time in the over 400 days I have been with my company, not one single person was mean to me. FOR THE FIRST TIME. That is both truly amazing, and incredibly sad.

I also "put a ring on it", as my co-pilot says, and got my little confirmation in my email letting me know that basically every spare penny for the next 7 months is going towards getting my life in order, so I can put it on pause.... and.... go.

And that, really, is the point your two stalwart assistants were most stuck on today. This is the beginning of the end. This is the beginning of the end of cell phones, working just to pay the rent (to jobs that pay the rent, raise your glasses, folks, thaaaaanks), BLACKBERRIES, cab rides, Saturday night Mexican and Margaritas, Sunday night QAF marathons, walks in Meridian Park, OFFICE POLITICS, long-winded speeches by our bosses to tell us things that we already know that they seem to constantly forget (BE RESPONSIVE, PPL), 8pm ab classes with Bill, spinning (good things are happening!), the end of garlic and olive oil and weekend detoxes.

It's also the end of clean water in every building and, apparently, toilets that don't consist of a hole in the ground on the side of the road - but eventually we plan to return to those things. DC? Not so much.

Above all, this is the beginning of the end of a certain time in your life that, if you're as lucky as we are, you never have to relive. We're both the kind of girls with what our dear friend *John calls the "public school chip" on our shoulders. We both worked extraordinarily hard for what we have. We crossed boundaries we never knew we would cross, kissed asses we NEVER thought we would kiss, shook hands when we wanted to punch faces, smiled when all we wanted to do was throw the heels we were wearing out the window of the very fancy restaurant we were busy NOT eating at because we were too busy staffing the rich person next to us, kissed the cheeks of people whose necklace that evening was worth more than our college debt, and kept, all told, three lives that WEREN'T OURS from running off the tracks (and we looked fabulous while we did it, fyi). We both moved across the country and came to this city with no friends, no savings and, shortly upon our arrivals, no jobs or means of supporting ourselves. We cried. We questioned whether we could stick it out. We did all the proving ourselves, TO ourselves, we will ever need to do. At this point we can both leave here firmly convinced that we can do anything and that, as our motto goes, we can run your life, run your company, run your city - and do it in heels. That's not a small thing to take away from our time here, and we need a moment to mourn the passing of a challenging but incredibly formative and exciting time in our lives.

Moment over. Let's get the fuck out of dodge, friends. I want to see an elephant so bad, no words.

*name has been changed for our protection - not that anyone reading this wouldn't know IMMEDIATELY who we are. we are DISTINCT.