San Francisco

Sometimes I am way too tired to sit at a computer and pour out my feelings on to the screen. And sometimes I feel like I could write and write and have lots of things to talk about. Today is one of those days.

So I will pre-warn this 2nd blog post of the day with this caution - If you are one of those people who likes to jump to the end of a book, find out what happens and then read the story, please do continue on. But if you are one of those people who likes to go through the story, build up the suspense, get emotionally tied to the words and then, at the end, find out what happens, I invite you to read the post before (Decisions, Decisions) before continuing on. I wouldn’t want to spoil the ending for those who like the suspense ;)

My co-worker and I left for San Francisco last Sunday. It was her first time into the city and I was really excited to show her around a bit. My good friend from school was picking us up at the airport and then we were going to hang out and see the city a bit and have some dinner before she headed out of town for work.

I feel like I would bore a lot of people with the details, so I’ll try and keep the highlights of my trip to a minimum. For those of you who like to skip ahead, let me sum it up by saying the trip was great, tiring, sunny, and a lot of fun.

On Monday, we headed down to the Moscone Center to set up for the tradeshow. As things came together in our booth, it felt pretty good to be working and I was excited for the show ahead. After set up, we took a cable car over to Fisherman’s Wharf to have some lunch. After we wandered around, my colleague and I parted ways so she could go shopping and I could go back and see my school.

This was a big test for me – would I feel the need to be back at school? Would my excitement be let down?

As I walked in the doors, the first person I saw was the registrar who I had been talking to about upcoming elective choices. I gave him a huge hug and said hello and he gave me the run down on how things were on campus. He also told me to stop by his office when I was done saying hi to everyone so we could chat about elective choices for May.

I continued upstairs and saw many of the staff in the student services offices. They were all so happy and excited to see me and I was filled with excitement as well. We all gave huge hugs and briefly caught up as to why I was in San Francisco.

Their office is all encased in glass walls, so as I stood there talking to them, I saw other staff members, and former students (and good friends of mine) who were on campus. They all popped in to say hi and give me huge hugs. The smiles all around me just filled me with a joy that is hard to explain. I felt excited, happy and could not stop smiling.

The Dean of the school saw me and popped in to say hi. After a big hug, he asked me the question that I am sure was on everyone else’s mind, but they were just waiting to ask –“so Aidan, will we see you here in a few months for the next module of classes?”

I knew I would have to make a decision at some point. I knew I would have to get off the fence post. I couldn’t avoid this forever – and talking about it with people always made me teary. Maybe making the decision would change that. I figured I would just know once I got to the city, to school and would just allow whatever felt right to be the choice.

With a big smile on my face and solid confidence in my voice I replied “Not this year Dean. But you will see me in May 2013.”

The rest of the trip was great – tiring, but really great. I did some work and got really excited about our company and how I might fit with being there on a more consistent basis. I saw old friends and caught up. It was amazing to see a lot of people and see how post-MBA life was treating them. I didn’t get to see everyone or do everything I wanted to, but it was a great trip filled with lots of fun and smiles.

The trip was also draining – I was exhausted for a lot of yesterday and even a little bit sad. Cayley and I looked at two places to rent yesterday and neither of them were very great. We went out for a bit with friends last night and there wasn’t a lot going on. The reality of my decision was sinking in a bit and I shed a few tears last night. Likely I was just really tired, but part of me knows I was sad about not going back to San Francisco, back to my MBA, back to my ‘old’ life right away.

After a restful night’s sleep, I woke up this morning full of excitement – this next year isn’t exactly how I pictured it, but I still think it’s going to be really great – I get to be around great family and friends, be in a great work environment with a company I am really excited about and I get to find a place to live with a really really great man. Next on the list, heading to Portland, OR for a celebration of being over a few big hurdles/ mini-vacation in a few weekends!