As Ashley and I parted ways at the end of our shift this afternoon I had to admit that summer was really over. We're almost at the end of the Summer Festival run, and while discussing the upcoming schedule in drizzly almost mitten weather, we realized we won't work again until next Monday, a week from now. In the last three months, we probably haven't gone more than a day without being in the Box Office together. I'm sure she'll be fine, but how will I cope being there Friday, all by myself, without her answers to my panicked questions (oh, actually, I did have one more about winter Air Miles...) or her giggles to go along with my stories of the evening before, or her dogged determination and detective skills to solve a problem I gave up on hours ago? Really, how am I going to survive without any of you?!

Somehow, every winter, we do survive, enjoying the busy days and call in shifts that remind us of summer, as well as the gatherings and movie nights that let us socialize, without the threat of patron updating hanging over us.

So here's to another summer, and to the girl who keeps things running behind the scenes!