Welcome to our first and last reunion

“Welcome to our first and last reunion”

In the Rose Garden on my final day at The White House

It’s those words, the opening line to the musical Follies, which I keep replaying in my head while packing my suitcase.  Surrounded in my apartment by mementos, trinkets and pictures, a feeling of anxiety fills my stomach.  Four years ago, I said goodbye to my dream job after an all too brief rendezvous.  Now, four years older (and maybe a bit wiser), I re-enter what was once hallowed ground, the administration of George W. Bush.

Currently, I’m en route to Dallas for the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.  For staffers who worked in the administration, this is one of only two reunions we’ll ever have to celebrate the work of the 43^rd president together.  And with the next reunion being a state funeral, it’s the more joyous of the occasions.  So why then am I so nervous about attending this reunion?

Marine One Landing on the South Lawn of The White House

Reunions are funny things because they’re time lapses.  Unfortunately though, they can also become a state of mind.  I know too many colleagues who have never moved beyond The White House years, forever defining themselves by their brief encounter with the executive branch.

Yet in fairness though, it’s hard to move beyond The White House.  No job will EVER top it.  From the moment you leave, every job interview onward we’ll include at least one White House related question.  I can’t count the number of interviews I’ve been on where the interviewer disclosed to me that they are a Bush Republican!

Working in The White House means, you’re one of the lucky few who was on the inside gate of history looking out, and it’s that perspective on history which can define you, but only if you let it. It’s easy to become paralyzed by this state of mind, and maybe that’s my real worry.

Not that I’ve let the experience define me: but rather, the opposite.  That I haven’t branched out enough or sought tougher goals. By attending this reunion, maybe it’s a reminder to make my post-White House life as rich and fulfilling as was my Bush Administration experience.

On Thursday morning, President and Mrs. Bush will be joined by former Presidents Clinton, Bush (41) and Carter.  They each dreamed of reaching The White House, and after leaving, faced the challenge of being defined by that goal.   Their post-presidency work is a reminder that our past exists only to inform and motivate us, to use our experiences to create a better present and future.

As Bush Administration alumni, this is our first and last reunion with President Bush.  It will be, as one of the Follies characters says at the show’s opening, “A final chance to glamorize the old days…and lie about ourselves, a little.”  For me, it will be one last chance to remember the people and the experience that came to define my early professional career.  To use this final reunion as a reminder of the standards set by President George W. Bush and continuing to personally and professionally progress forward on the ideals I first held at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum