The Beginning of the Long Goodbye

An interesting thing happened to me last week at work. I had to go to a building for a meeting that I used to go to a lot in the past but had not visited in a long time. To get there I had to travel up a road and into an area at the top of the hill that the facility sits on. When my office was up there, I was on this road several times a day. Now, it has been at least 2 months since I traveled up it.

As I drove, I was initially surprised by the state of the landscaping. One of the things that this facility prides itself on is the maintenance of the grounds and the grounds crew, though reduced in size, continues to do a great job. But up there on the hill, the grass was taller, the sidewalks un-swept, the bushes un-trimmed. It had the look of abandonment.

The other thing I saw was the closed buildings. There are 5 building on the hill and 4 are closed and the fifth, with only a dozen people living in it, is scheduled to close by the end of September. In the past when buildings were closed they basically just stood there, looking proud but tired and simply fading into the past. But there was a spate of vandalism up there, most probably from outsiders, getting into buildings and eventually taking some things. The facility responded by boarding up the first floor windows and doors of all these buildings as well as several others just off the hill. The plywood is painted an institutional maroon, the same color as the handrails and doors through out the place. It was hard not to feel a twinge of remorse, sadness and depression. This is where I had spent about 20 years of my working life and now it was gone.
As part of the facility phase down, we have a document company coming in quarterly to shred the documents of the past. I have a file cabinet and shelf stuffed with them. I had some time last week when my computer was on the fritz, so I started to go through stuff and packed it into boxes to take to the shredding center to await the next visit of the shredders. For now, three boxes sit in my office, a daily reminder of what is happening here. Again, it is difficult not to feel “shredded” by this whole experience.

When I started to work here, some 28 years ago, there was always talk of the day the facility would close but nothing that happened or was experienced then, prepared me for the feelings right now. There is sadness. This is low morale. There are people constantly leaving. There is fear of an unknown future for many of the workers. I get to miss the last part because I am planning to retire when we are done here or when our house sells. But all the rest is there...

“The times, they are a-changin’”
Bob Dylan

“The times, they are a-changin’”
Bob Dylan