Last day at PayPal

It has finally arrived and man I cried. I was so brave throughout the day but on a bright smile that teammates must have thought that I really want to leave and am glad to never see them again. And while I will not deny that this is partially true, it is not the whole story.
For my farewell I had organised that each teammate gets a small cactus (to remind them of my prickly charisma) and a “First aid work kit” (including things like: a red thread, fizz for dull moments, and a good luck charm). I think they liked it. In return the team surprised me with a personalised “SuperKate” Cake…. I knew they were up to no good when they asked for those pictures…
I also had some non-alcoholic sparkling wine and naturally all the sweets we caught on the weekend. So one thing is for sure, on this day nobody had to starve.
Because of some technical issues I actually had to work on my last day quite a bit, making me not think about it too much. But then the last Huddle, the last time talking to the Dublin team arrived and it was hard. So when we finally hung up the phone, the Berlin teammates witnessed a small tear. I was clever enough not to read the cards they had handed me alongside a voucher for my new fabric source stoffn.de
I was really overwhelmed but again, with too many things to do I did not have the time to think about it too long.
After work we went to a vegetarian restaurant “Zen House”. I walked by this restaurant a couple of times and was intrigued by the vegan, black rice sushi they offered. However, I ended up being a bit disappointed in the food. It did not taste as good as it had looked. Next time I better go back to basics… whenever next time will be… it is money- savings- time now.
Anyways when I said goodbye to the last teammates I almost burst into tears on the subway. At home I read the cards and I was done. While some comments were as expected and not very personal, some really moved me and I am so thankful for the great time.
Now having slept about it, I can say this: I am 100% sure that it is the right step to leave, but I am also 100% sure that I will miss a lot at PayPal. Mostly the people. I really hope, that I will stay in touch with some of them, knowing myself and my networking skills, it is going to be hard. Maybe I get to organize an annual get together.
So this is the last time for me to say thank you to each and every one who has helped me become the person I am today (this crazy something, that has the courage to follow its dreams)! If you are not sure if this means you too, feel free to ask and I will tell you exactly how!