Lunch and Learn

I had lunch with a former coworker today. A former coworker who is now pursuing, successfully, a completely different path. So, over lunch, we talked about her path and mine, her days and mine, and how each of us might like to have just some of what the other has now.
 
And, of course, we talked about days past, the shared experiences from working together. And it was in talking about it all that I realized that sometime, while I wasn't looking, I moved on. The workplace we shared is no longer my most recent thing, not really even close. The references from there, nice as they are, will be old news by the time I use them again. And my description of myself might still include that as history, but will no longer focus on it as identity.
 
Even as I was priding myself on my aggressive job search/networking efforts, I had no idea that the redefinition of me would happen not so much because I moved into a completely different arena, but more because I opened my eyes to new people and new ways of working. And because I allowed people to see ME, not just the person I tried to be to fit in correctly.
 
It's amazing how sometimes the biggest changes happen when your eyes are closed, or looking elsewhere. Children grow up not from birthday to birthday but on random days when you're busy doing the laundry. Your work identity changes not so much because a particular amount of time has passed, but because you have accomplished new things, all while just trying to be part of a new team, trying to get the job done.
 
I knew that today's lunch would be a great reconnection with a friend. Thanks to my friend, it was so much more--an opportunity to see not just how far we've each come in a year, but to look forward to what we're going to do with ourselves as we go farther. To talk over some of the past, but then leave it in the past.
 
I can't even imagine what we will each have accomplished by the next time we meet. I look forward to meeting the new versions of both of us.