I Want You Back…Maybe

Carmen came by the office today for a celebration of one of our colleagues who was retiring and otherwise calling it a career.  I had no idea that she was going to be showing up, so the fact that we had an opportunity to connect today was truly a surprise and quite the treat.  She left our office in 2016 and with that came our work divorce.  Carmen was Work Wife #1 and indeed, she and I go way back.  In reconnecting with her today, even if for just a couple of hours, it felt as though we never skipped a beat and we seemingly picked up where we left off years ago.  That’s how close we are, even after all these years of “being apart”.  Maybe that sounds a bit dramatic, being that she might work in another office, and I could theoretically see her more often than we have, but the reality is that neither one of us has taken those steps to seek out the other.  We’ve just been content with exchanging text messages through the years and yes, it has worked for us.  Still, there’s something magical that happens every time we get together and it’s more telling when those co-workers who knew us as a professional work couple see us in action again and remark that from the looks of things, it would appear that nothing has changed between us.  I guess that’s just the power of our connection and unbeknownst to me, it was pretty apparent to those who happened to see us together today.

Carmen is in management now, kind of.  She’s an acting supervisor for the moment, though I imagine that she will eventually be granted permanent status.  It’s just a matter of time really.  One of the last times that she and I had connected, she had mentioned this to me and she had casually asked me about the potential that I might be willing to leave the office where I am currently and join her in her office, with her as my supervisor.  Had I not been happy where I am, I might have taken her up on her offer and made moves to join her over there.  I guess at the end of the day, I never actually told her, “No”, so I’m thinking that that door definitely remains open.

There’s something that just happens when you connect with someone for so many years and your lives, even for a brief moment, become intertwined.  It’s not always easy to put into words, but as far as feelings go, it definitely feels good.  It feels even better knowing that even though we haven’t worked side by side for nearly eight years, nothing has changed between us as far as the way we get along and interact.  Though time has passed, nearly a decade actually, today when we were reunited, it felt like we were never really apart and that nothing had changed between us.  It was all so familiar, so comfortable, and maybe for lack of a better term, so right.    

I’m not trying to delve too deeply into my feelings, but I do know that I definitely have some options, in the event that things in my current office should take a turn for the worse and go awry.  If Christina leaves, I know that there are other places I can go.  Heading to Carmen is indeed one of the options available to me.  Still, I am happy where I am for the moment, though it’s nice to know that I have a place to go if I ever needed it.

I’m just glad that it could be with Carmen.