Greg Hartnett

My move to Roseville approaches rapidly. Now officially t-minus 10 days, the vast majority of the move related work lays behind us, with only a handful of issues unresolved. If I could just find a buyer for my old Explorer, I’d be groovy. I have a couple of leads on the sale, and if those fall through, I believe I’ll donate it.

With most of the hard stuff behind me, I have had the opportunity to spend some time reflecting on my pending move, and my time spent here on Long Island. While I am very excited to be moving, I find the pangs of nostalgia hitting me in the gut more and more frequently. I have spent a lot of time living on Long Island, and my family has now been here for 4 generations. It’s going to take some time to get used to not being here, and calling a new area our home.

Now that I have only a few days left at HQ, I have definitely been getting more and more nostalgic. For instance, I have been driving the same route to work for the last four years, and I took the exact route to college for almost six years. I have now been driving for almost 19 years (damn), and I have been cruising along the same roads 50% of that time.

I’ll miss how the Meadowbrook opens up after Roosevelt Field, permitting me to cruise the rest of my journey. I’ll miss that long stretch of Rt 106 - a five mile run of lightly populated road past multi-million dollar homes in Brookville and Muttontown. I’ll miss feeling like a genius when I hop off the Northern State Parkway at Post Ave when I see a glut of brake lights. I’ll even miss the frantic, side of the highway piss-stops, when that extra cup of coffee just refuses to stay put.

I will definitely miss spending time with my boys at the office. I have been truly blessed to have people to work with that I both respect and enjoy being around. Brian and I have been sharing an office for three years, and the thought of not being able to easily bounce an idea off him will take some getting used to. I’ll miss the sarcastic banter, and the sophomoric humor. I’ll miss the lunches (but not the cafeteria), the office basketball games, and the boardroom meetings. I know that things with the company won’t miss a step, but I do feel a bit sad about not being able to spend time with Brian and Jared - my coworkers and my friends. Luckily, our conference schedule will permit us to get together a handful of times every year, and I am sure that we will continue to snowboard and vacation together as well.

Even though we plan on staying in touch as much as possible with my mother and sister, I know that all of us will miss them dearly. My mother has played such an important role in both of my children’s lives, and I am sure that they will both miss her very much. Moreover, it will be difficult to know that my god-daughter Kiera will be so much bigger the next time I see her. Being so far away from my family will indeed be the most difficult part of our move.

Though I feel this growing sense of sadness, I am fully aware that it shall pass. My sadness is brought upon by my fear of the unknown, coupled with the inclination to grasp onto the things that you leave behind. I understand that all things must change - that change is the only true constant. Our move is just such a change, as are the emotions associated with the move. And both of those states will surely change in the months and years to come.

For the remainder of the time that I will call Long Island my home, I plan on carrying along as usual - spending time with friends and family for the upcoming holiday, and tying up as many loose ends as I can at work. I have a couple of special events planned before we get out of Dodge, and then the next chapter begins.