Last fall, I was invited to a Hilltop Views potluck dinner.

“Bring food,” the invitation probably said. “We’ll be sitting around making smalltalk over whatever cheap snack you grabbed from H-E-B.”

I remember texting Lesli Simms, Hilltop Views copy chief, something along the lines of, “Dude, are you going to that potluck?”

When she said “No,” I probably turned on Netflix and wasted my night while my future co-workers bonded over those disgusting cookies that taste like chalk that someone always brings to a potluck.

Little did I know that I would eventually grow to like—nay, enjoy—spending time with these people. Like, genuinely. Like, to the point that I am really sad about leaving this job.

If you have ever gotten a text from me on a Monday night during Hilltop Views production, it probably said something like, “OMG this sucks so much.”

In reality, there is a 100 percent chance that I was sitting around with some of my favorite people, watching GIFs of dancing horses set to a chopped-and-screwed Beyoncé song. And you know what? I was anything but miserable. Working at Hilltop Views has been a blast.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I thought this job would suck, and it didn’t suck; it ended up being life-changing. Through this job, I learned a lot about writing, people, interviewing, friends, editing, GIFs, the Internet, Adobe programs, generating online content and, most importantly, life.

thx 4 reading ~*