ABSTRACT
We’ve all used the expression “time flies” but it was still hard to believe after what seemed to be such a short stretch of time, I was marking my twentieth year at the same institution. Where did all those years go as I was establishing my professional focus and settling into a work routine? Was there anything to show for all those hours, months, years of effort and meetings and projects and worry? Did any of it make a difference? Had I stayed too long? While staying twenty years had never been part of any plan, somehow it had happened, and it has been rewarding and professionally challenging all the same. A satisfying professional career is as much about the linkages and connections we make along the way as it is about the increase in responsibility or authority or prestige of one’s position. Without being too philosophical, I believe we each possess a good deal of power over how we will fare through life. While we may not be able to control actual events, we can control how we respond and react to them. With few exceptions, I still look forward to arriving at work each day. Here is some of my story.
