I have a bittersweet announcement to share: November 7th will be my last day at CivicLex. I will share my next steps soon, but I want to take a moment to share some reflections on my wonderful time with the CivicLex team.

I started at CivicLex in 2022, just a few months after having moved to Lexington. I had barely graduated from college, was deeply unsure of myself, and had no idea what I was supposed to be doing with my life. I still don’t really know what I’m supposed to be doing with my life altogether, but I do know that for the last four years I was supposed to be at CivicLex, and I know that where I am supposed to be is in Lexington.

Any bit of success I have had in Lexington, any board or committee or program I have done here – and frankly 90% of my friendships – would not have been possible without CivicLex. I knew when I took the job that I would get to know Lexington in a deep way – but I had no idea just how right I was. All the work I have done and the connections I’ve made at CivicLex have resulted in me not only loving Lexington, but knowing with certainty that this city is my home.

I have a sense of accountability to Lexington that I’m grateful for, and it simply would not be possible for me to have formed such a bond with this city without the CivicLex team. I got to see every day what being dedicated to community looks like, through the work of my incredible coworkers (more on them in a moment) and from all the people I have met in neighborhoods, nonprofits, in and outside of City Hall, in libraries, and everywhere in between. It’s an immense blessing to feel invested in a community alongside so many other people who feel that same investment.

More than any professional bullet points to put on my resume, and more even than growing my sense of belonging in this city, what has meant the most to me about being at CivicLex is being able to work with the staff. They are not only the most intelligent, talented, and innovative people I know; but they are also the most caring, the most thoughtful, the most generous, and frankly, the most fun people I know. The hardest thing for me to wrestle with about this decision, far and away, was that I won’t get to see people I consider family every day anymore. I’m lucky to have always had a long, multipart answer to the question, “What do you like most about your job?” And I’m supremely lucky that the first thing I have always answered that question with is that my coworkers are genuinely my favorite people on earth. They have no idea how much I will miss them.

Being “Adrian from CivicLex” has been a moniker I have been so deeply, truly humbled and honored to hold. I’m going to miss people calling me that! I want to thank everyone who has supported my work at CivicLex – whether that was reading the newsletter, talking to me when I was tabling at a park, donating to the organization, sending me kind emails about my writing, or inviting me to meetings and conferences to share more about what we were up to, you have been such an important part of my life.

It’s easy to forget that most people do not have jobs that are meaningful – either for them as individuals, or meaningful for other people in the world. I got to have one at CivicLex. There are so many specific ways that CivicLex’s mission and approach to community works feels so intuitive and tailor made for me to have slipped into, but at the end of the day I am just thankful I get to walk away from a place where I have no single question that what I was doing – and what the organization is doing -matters in a way that benefits our souls and the souls of everyone we get to touch through our work.

I will share more information on my next steps soon. They’re exciting, and I hope all my friends who know me from CivicLex will follow me on my new journey. I won’t be able to get very far without you – Lord knows where I would be if I hadn’t had you all up to now.