Lynn Twiss

Fiesta Lime Chicken and an iced tea. That’s what I was consuming when I told my boss of nearly ten years that I was leaving the company.

I feel a bit guilty, because he was so excited to go and eat lunch away from the building and have me pay. He really had no premonition of what was to transpire there at the Applebees in Kalispell. I had tactfully waited for our orders to be taken before I quickly threw the subject out onto the table; from the look on Dwight’s face, you’d think I had threw it straight at him. It didn’t take but a second for the sentence to sink in that I’d quit, but it took a bit longer for him to coherently begin discussing the matter.

Once we had returned to the office and he was confronted with his computer screen of work, it must have finally sunk home. He asked me into his office and directed me to close the door. His face and eyes were puffy and red, he brushed his eyes as he stated that he seriously, personally, wanted me to remain at the company.

I was kind, and stated there was no way I was staying. I have put so much of my life on hold for a company I helped build, but never saw any of the rewards for.

I am surrounded by examples of how much good this company has done for people. In the eight years I have been in Kalispell Montana, I have seen so much change and growth happen to the people around me even beyond Kimber. Ryan is now married and has a wonderful newborn baby boy named Lander. Sharon has moved to a new town, transformed her body and begun a business to call her own. Mark has completed school, is a fireman with his wife and has moved into a new home. Robyn is in her last year of college and is awaiting a new life as an actress. My comrades from Kalispell have carved a niche for themselves in Seattle, and are enjoying the life that city brings them. Me? I am still living alone making the same amount of money and am hiding in a town that has no entertainment for me. It’s time I put me ahead of everything else. It’s time I started living.

I have no regrets at this point, but I hope that I am rewarded someday.