Shutting the Doors

I don't know why it bothers me. It is just a part-time job that I took just over a year ago to help defray gas costs.

I've worked for places that closed before, including my own store.

Maybe it is my age, and the fact that I would have continued here till I couldn't do it any more.

Maybe it is because I will miss these women more than most of the others I have worked with.

Maybe it is because we say we will stay in touch, but if the past is any indication, well, we won't.

It is just two weeks away, the final closing of the doors. The 80% off signs no longer appeal to me.  I have, as Hubby says, enough clothes and jewelry to last the rest of my life. I have plenty of friends, another job and a valued faith gift. So what's the problem?

This place has given me a new outlook. I have become more confident. I wear my personality instead of polyester. I've become more outgoing. It and my church have driven me to be more ME. The boss's young daughter says she wants to dress like me when she's sixty. Some of the others say I have a certain zing for my age. I don't think they realize that they are the ones who helped me to be the person I was once, and am again.

I tend to look at everything from the time Mom passed away. Many things happened that year. Facebook, old friends entering my life again and new friends appearing. New jobs, new blog, new church. The YMCA. Dancing.  Confidence. The bucket list. It wasn't all good, but I learned from the hurts, too.

"Busy Bee's", as Hubby nicknamed the joint, became a place of fun and refuge. I'll miss that fun. I'll miss the customers. I hope I have gained enough knowledge of myself that it will carry on, even if the friendships don't.

So, farewell. It just won't be the same without you.