So I got fired

So... I had a meeting today, during which I was told that I was being released. Released makes me think of an aging baseball player whom the team no longer needs. The right word is fired, or maybe terminated. For a fairly long time now I'd been feeling unmotivated (not a normal feeling for me) and like I wasn't doing as good a job as I could be. Bob is a great guy, but we were not clicking. When it's just the two of us talking and sharing stories it's wonderful, but we had fundamentally different views of my role and the way that one should run a campaign. Apparently *the* reason I was fired was an inability to play well with others--specifically the party regulars and officials. I was told that 80% of politics is building relationships and an ability to pander to people to keep them happy. As I'd always felt fairly competent at this, it was mildly hurtful to hear otherwise. I was further informed that Senate leadership, and others within the campaign (who is that...we were a staff of one) and outside the campaign felt I was not doing a good job and that I was failing in establishing mutually beneficial relationships. A friend suggested that the knock down drag out verbal fight I had a week ago in the bar in Denver where I defended Dean and those who worked for him might have been part of the problem. The primary person with whom I'd argued is a prominent player and is not my boss but close. So maybe I should have shut up and been nice. But truth be told I think it was more than that, and if it was for that reason that I was fired--then I am glad I was.

So what comes next? Should I move to Seattle to be with the love of my life Jen (who is through luck and grace here right now, and has made this day passable if not oddly wonderful...she is currently and constantly changing everything I've come to know about what a partner can/should be...I'm thrilled at the most mundane of things, grocery shopping, renting a bike, making dinner). Should I move to DC and try to do that for 4 months. Should I go home? Should I become a sherpa for wealthy dowagers trying to climb small mountains in Colorado?

I don't know what comes next. I'm hurt right now, I feel like a failure...