I've worked at the same company for over 26 years.
Not simply the same company, but also the same building. The same location. For 26 years.
And I value and appreciate the stability and predictability that this longevity and consistency has provided me. But at the same time, when you have an ongoing, repeating familiarity for that long a period of time, you make comparisons. You notice things. You witness the passage of time in very specific and sometimes very obvious ways.
In my early 30s, during the early years of this employment tenure, my friends and I would head downstairs at midday for lunch in the building cafeteria. And, young and spritely as I was, I remember bouncing down the mid-building steps with a quickness.
(My department has worked on the third floor, the fourth floor, the second floor over the years. So I've bounced down the steps from many different starting points.)
But I did bounce . . . with speed and agility.
The recognition of the passage of time comes in when I compare the past to now.
Now . . . not only do I go down the stairs alone. But I do it with deliberate step and nothing resembling speed or bounce.
First . . . alone.
Because many of my initial friends no longer work at the company and have not for a long time. They moved on--either willingly or sometimes unwillingly. Some came back, but work remotely. The work world is fluid.
And alone . . . because those who work in my department now, almost to a person, work from home and do not come into the building any longer. So, I am working almost alone on an empty floor, contrasting my environment and my walking speed to memories of the past. Working alone and thinking of ghosts.
This is what happens when you work in the same place for 26 year.
