I thought you might like to see what the office of an acquiring editor, on Madison Ave., at a major NY publishing house looks like. Here it is back when my stuff was in it:

a LOT of great books were signed here

that's Madison Ave down below my enormous window

and now, the end is here

My friend Craig, whose office is right next to mine, saved the day for me many a stressed-out day, and I think I did the same for him. He’s away at a conference, but I stopped in his office to take a picture of something that makes me smile.

he kept that 5th grade picture of me, right by his computer. aww.

One more day, tomorrow, of tying up loose ends and then I’m done.

For now, I’m watching A Single Man, that incredibly stylish Tom Ford movie, with Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. I just finished eating a pint of peach frozen yogurt for my dinner, and I’m going to knit for a while. That seems like a nice way to honor this transition, from something to something else. Stay cool, y’all.

Anyway.

Unbeknownst to me, Craig had taken 4 very old photographs of me and had them enlarged and mounted on foam core board. He and I got to the place a few minutes before everyone else, to kind of set up, and he started pulling these things out of his bag. He stuck them all over the room, and mounted one on the door frame going into the room. MY SHAME. First of all, it gave the space the air of a wake, and second of all, three of the photos are humiliating. But everyone liked them, and kept picking them up, gazing at them, and asking me about them. It was kind of sweet. Here’s the room:

here it is, the party room

It was a wonderful space, filled with people I love. Since you don’t know these people, I’m just inserting a slideshow – my kids and family, who’ve heard me talk about all these people, might want to see faces to go with the names. Otherwise you can skip them.

When each person left, he or she hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. It was stunning and warm and loving, and I thought “this isn’t how people think of New Yorkers, and they’re so very wrong” because this is how people here can be.  I love these people.

Today is the last day I’ll go into the office as a regular employee. I will work at home until July 7, which is my last real day as an employee – I’ll go back at the end of that day for the big going-away shindig, which is on the rooftop of a hotel in midtown….a gorgeous space. More about that party afterwards. On the way to the office, I’ll start the next Peasy swatch, with the next size down needles. It’s a beautiful summer day, and I am very happy. I hope you are too.