Of Lasts

This morning, I took bus 83 out to Alicetown for the last time. I saw the old man in his red coat and glasses, and the younger man with his blue coat and glasses, and the young Maori man with neither coat nor glasses, all for the last time today. They don’t know it, but I bid them farewell.

I brought a round of coffee to the office folks this morning for the last time. Two with just milk. One with milk and sugar. Last time.

I’ll sit at my desk for the last time today. My little desk around the corner, out of sight of everybody where I’ve spend hours looking up information for Noeline. The last time.

This week at the office has been odd. It’s strange to know that something is coming to an end when it feels like it’s gone on forever. When it’s normal. Monday was very busy with all of the tasks that accumulated on the front desk since Thursday. My last Monday. Tuesday afternoon, I went into Wellington with Noeline to a meeting with the Road Safety Trust people. It’s funny that I am ending where I started – the Road Safety Trust meeting was about school bus safety. My last meeting with her. I was impressed during the appointment about the cost of change. Tenacity begets change. Hopefully, I have started the process of acquiring the ability to be tenacious.

Today, as a farewell, the office is taking me out to lunch at La Bella Italia. If only the meagre presents and cards that I got for them can show how thankful I am to have gotten to know them, this organization. I don’t feel like I truly “get it” yet, this place and its mission, but I started to.

This will be my last post while I’m still in New Zealand. For the next two days, I’ll be enjoying more lasts – with Kendall, Amanda, Camille, and everybody else from the Wellington gang that still remains. I’ll finish relaying my stories about Weekends in Wellington, complete with pictures, at a later point.

But first, I’ll have to complete my lasts.