Work Family

Pretty much every job I've had long term has come complete with what I like to call my "second family." Before I came to my current job, I was waitressing at a restaurant in Newport, RI where my coworkers were quite literally my extended family. I spent days, nights, weekends, holidays and everything in between with them. They were my roommates, my traveling buddies, my bar buddies and more. It's just the kind of relationship that comes with working so closely with people for a long period of time. And it is especially in my character to grow attached to people and feel extremely close to them very quickly if I feel a connection with them.

So now that I've been at my current job for a while, I can definitely say that I'm back in that "second family" phase with most of my coworkers. We work long hours and often spend time together at night and on the weekends, whether it's work related, social, or a little bit of both. Since my time there, I've shared an office with 5 different people, and seen many people come and go. Some made little impact on me (I won't mention any names here, I'll just call them "Bauren" and "Musan") and others will remain close friends for life. Some people tell me I'm too emotional, too dramatic or too sensitive, but personally I just think I have a love for meeting and getting to know new people, and I usually find interesting qualities that I admire in people from all walks of life. It kind of feels like an ironic cycle lately that goes something like this: Person I really love leaves, new person comes aboard who I try to hate for replacing old person, but 9 times out of 10, I grow to inevitably love new person and the cycle continues.

As I'm writing this I'm wondering if all the new people (or old timers for that matter) think I'm a complete nut. Luckily I can honestly say right now that I love all my second family these days. Despite all the mandatory office drama, politics and sometimes sheer ridiculousness, I think we have a great group of people and I find that everyone has their little idiosyncrasies that make them both unique and fabulous. Although I sometimes wish that things could stay the same forever, and that a few certain people were still part of my second family, I am going to really try to "embrace the change" from now on...