My new desk is enormous. Seriously, I feel like a banker when I sit there, which might be a good thing as the new director of financial aid. It’s different from the one in my old office in several ways, but up until about a month ago, the major way was that it was so neat and sparse. No stacks of paper, no hair ties tucked under the keyboard. Now, in the midst of mid-November, I find myself looking down at a sea of sticky notes and file folders. Spreadsheets, thank you notes, receipts from airline tickets.

Now that I’m in the groove, my desk is back to the controlled chaos state that makes me most comfortable. As it’s just as I’m noticing this that my boss, admission director Bill McMahon, walks down the hall and stops outside my door. He’s wearing his black Patagonia jacket (it’s gotten chilly in Ojai lately) and carrying a bag full of papers. And he’s saying…wait, what’s he saying? He’s saying “have a great time in Boston and enjoy Thanksgiving!” Huh? Well that can’t be right. I just got here.

Three months can’t possibly have passed so quickly that not only did I not notice my desk filling up, but missed the calendar pages flying by? True, I’m exaggerating my actual shock, but it was really something to stop for a minute and realize how fast the time as gone.  I feel like I was just here for my own interview, and now we’re a third of the way through the school year. I’ve already met with over 40 great kids applying to Thacher and have traveled to Massachusetts and Florida (my colleagues really have me beat though – they’ve been in Asia, Saudi Arabia, New York, Chicago and Houston just to name a few places!). Time is flying, and I find myself grateful for this amazing new job, wonderful kids and colleagues, and the beautiful Ojai valley. Oh yeah, and a desk I recognize as my own.