Where To?

I met my boss today for lunch.  My treat.  Football bet.  Colts lost to the Cowboys.  I haven't seen him for a month.  Not since the day with all the boo-hooing and other non-professional, non-science geek goddess behaviour.  It went as always with an easy grace and interesting convoluted conversation.  But things have shifted and changed for both of us.  We will never be boss and employee again.  (Not that we have been that in more than name for a while now).  His world is still caught up with experiments and grants and mice.  Mine caught up in a little back eddy made by this unexpected and unwanted shift.  Some of those shifts are weird like talking about science that is no longer mine to carry out.  Some are unexpected and sweet like the hug he gave me on leaving.  I hold hope that we can maintain our friendship.  I don't have any friends other than family that I have known as long as him.  And I value him for being there.  

After lunch I tooled through O'Bryonville looking for gifts.  Finding a few.  Scurrying back to my car before the time expired.  On my way back to the car I stuck my hand in the pocket of my fleece.  Fingers assessing the contents.  Keys.  Phone.  Chapstick.  Something else.  What was that?  FYI - I am like a squirrel when it comes to storing things in my pockets and I have a hard time with clothes that have none.  This often leads to surprises as things resurface out of no where.  

I felt of it trying to guess what it was without looking, a weird personal game I play.  Hard plastic.  Roughly the shape of my phone but smaller.  I pulled it out to find it was my compass left in the pocket at the end of a day of letterboxing.  It was a gift from Sno' - my letterboxing conspirator who knows my penchant for misplacing or outright losing stuff.  This one has a lanyard so I can wear it around my neck.  I sheepishly admit I do just that and often forget that I am wearing it like a symbol of my office as geek goddess which I wholeheartedly embrace.   And it is a garish day glo green that would be hard to miss if you were looking for it.  

I stand there in O'Bryonville holding it and compulsively adjust the dial so that the red arrow points north so I can get a true reading should I feel the need which I don't.  I'm glad it has turned up now.  If ever anyone was in need of a compass to help them get their bearings it is this nerd girl.  And I quietly wonder - Where to now?   The answer is still - I have no idea.