Adieu, Mme Verret!

My first order of business when I arrived back in the US, was to head back to my previous place of employment, Patton Boggs LLP. I worked in the Human Resources Department of Patton Boggs for just under 3 years before we relocated to Buenos Aires and as much as I love having time to explore our new city and write this blog, I definitely miss my job. It was great to see everyone, but my main reason for heading to the city was to bid farewell to my previous boss, Louise Verret. Louise has a special place in my heart for several reasons, the most obvious of which is because she gave me a chance in the world of HR when I was interesting to leave the restaurant business. She went on a hunch and my word that I would work well in HR, and gave me an opportunity to prove this. What I didn't expect was to become such great friends with my new boss, although this was a great perk for me. The picture to the left is Louise and I at our wedding back in 2008, she and her husband John were real troopers through the 100+ degree heat.

Louise started with Patton Boggs as a secretary and worked her way up through the years to end up as a Personnel Director at the Firm. After almost 40 years, she retired on Friday, to spend time with her husband traveling and gardening. My hope is that her travels will lead her to South America, namely, Buenos Aires at some point soon.

My Mom and I met Louise and Joann (one of my more recent bosses) in Georgetown at a new restaurant called Ris. This is a new addition since I have left DC, and I think it's a great new place. The menu is small, but there are some interesting dishes and everything that we ordered was delicious. We sat outside on a beautiful Friday afternoon with the only disturbances being the multiple ambulances headed to George Washington Hospital during our meal. Here is my tiny French-Canadian boss with her farewell lunch, a "Fred Flintstone" lamb shank that was about the size of her head. Our lunch was great, filled with reminiscing and stories of Louise's future travels. It was wonderful to see Louise, and all of my other ex-coworkers at the Firm. I owe a lot to Louise and was glad that I could make it in time to see her off on her last day. Good luck Louise! You will certainly be missed!