Last Day at Brookstone

February 8, 2008

It’s not really my last day at Brookstone, unless the powers that be are ushering me out the door and wiping their collective brows. But today is my last day at the famous retailer for at least a year.

You see, on March 1 I’m embarking on a writing sabbatical and exploratory venture to get myself more exposure as a journalist and columnist. I’m also going to start (and hopefully finish) a couple books and a play while on this journey.

The sabbatical is an about-face in my current writing life, but it’s not foreign territory. I’ve been writing for news organizations and magazines since 1988 and continue to do so in a limited capacity. But that capacity is only limited by my schedule.

When you work a bunch of days a week and your primary client is a 91-minute drive away, it’s difficult to find the mental and physical energy to be creative either before or after work. *I’m writing this before work, but I’ve found that new energy is coursing through me already. I was even able to blast out a dozen projects yesterday at the office—making everyone smile lots and definitely giving us time today to have an ice cream party and maybe a ‘surprise’ lunchie lunchie.

Since Tim McGuire introduced me to John Lucey in 2003, I’ve been writing assorted materials for Brookstone. Believe me when I say the people are the best part of the job. That doesn’t mean that the job isn’t fun—to the contrary it’s so very cool to see your words on a package or a sign or the Website.

And it’s heartening to have named a handful of products (Dash, ComfortStep and others). But I’ll miss the faces of work most of all. Here are a couple photos of some folks I’ve worked with and a list of all the people there who will always be special to me.

HEY, I will do my very best not to miss a name. And if your name isn’t here, you can leave me a comment down below to put it back in. Some people who are no longer at the ‘Stone might not want to waste the electrons as their names have been excluded on purpose. And these names are in random order—it’s quarter to seven in the morning, gimme a break.

John, Paul, Luke (sounds like I’m starting a bible list) Megan, Molly, Kristian, Anna, Kathy, Dawn, Nadia, Steve, Stacey, Robert, Arlene, Jaine, Tammy, Barry, Deirdre, Al, Juliet, Al, Cindy, Val, Nichole, Susanna, Shelagh, John, Pam, Tim, Dave, Steve, Scott, Stephanie, Leann, Peter, Rudy, Lou, Lyn, Carol, Anne, Andrea, Ben, DJ, Martin, Chris, Misha, Nicolle, Lisa, Erin, Karyn, Ron (seriously) and many more.

And here’s another shot from the stairs…

More to come…on both the sabbatical and all the names I KNOW I forgot.