by Cynthia D. Lovering
As high school and college seniors across the country prepare to begin a new chapter of their lives, I too face a graduation of my own. For four and a half years, I have worked at the ACB national office as the administrative assistant to the executive director, my first full-time job in the real world. I have learned a variety of things, from the general skills of answering phones, typing correspondence, faxing and filing, to the specific skills of learning what products and services are available to blind and visually impaired people and how to be a sighted guide.
My education in the national office has not been limited to office skills and an introduction to the blindness community. Through the years, I have come to know the people I work with as a family of sorts; at times, fun and close-knit, and at other times, hectic. In four and a half years, we have watched one coworker through her entire pregnancy and seen her daughter grow before our eyes and watched another coworker through the dying process. Coworkers have left to pursue new and different opportunities and new ones have joined the team. We have laughed together, cried together, and most of all, grown together.
The only constancy in the real world is that things are constantly changing. But with any luck, there will be someone by your side to help you through the change. The ACB family has been there with me through those changes. Though the faces and names may change, the feeling of family has grown.
And now it is my turn to begin a new chapter of my life. I have been offered a new opportunity in the real world and will be leaving the ACB family. Similar to graduation from high school or college, I have mixed emotions about this new chapter of my life. While I am excited at the opportunity to try something new, I am also sad to leave the friends and family at ACB who I have grown with. My coworkers at the national office and the members of ACB have given me a great deal more than a paycheck. I will take with me the experience of a community of people who not only care about the cause but also care about each other. Thanks for the memories!