So Long, Farewell….

A co-worker is leaving.  Tomorrow is his last day.  And while in my 11.58 years of working for the same company, I’ve seen a LOT of people come and go, but this one is especially sad for me.  The person who is leaving was there when I started working at this company.  To give you a better glimpse…there are only 7 people still working for this company who have been there longer than me.  There are two others who left for greener pastures but soon returned when they discovered the grass wasn’t so green elsewhere. 🙂

When I first came to this company, I think there were around 26 people.  Total.  As I look at the roster today, there are 63 names listed.  And many of those have been there less than five years.  That’s a lot of people.  A lot of introductions.  And not many who know what it was like “back in the day”.

This friend can “remember when”.  He can remember who.  Like the time one person fell through a grate in the “kitchen” floor.  And the salmon colored wallpaper upstairs outside the President’s office {you wish you could see it, don’t you?}.  He also remembers having to cross the street in the pouring rain because we were in two buildings that faced each other.  Now, only one of those buildings still stands.  The other was torn down last year and turned into a parking lot.  The salmon colored wallpaper exists no more….

He remembers what it was like when everything was paper.  He knows what perm files were and why the “yellow sheet” is called just that…because it used to be a yellow sheet of paper {go figure}.  There was a lot of filing.  We had color folders that represented our Reps: William was red, Louie was green, Jonathan was maroon…  And there was a lot of faxing.  A lot of faxing.

This guy turned our IT world upside down and sideways, making us more efficient and well, smarter.

When I met him he wasn’t even married.  He had a sweetheart, yes, but he wasn’t married.  Now, he’s married {to that sweetheart} and has three beautiful children.  It’s been really mind-blowing to think back on everything that’s happened in 11.58 years.

He sent out a picture yesterday, taken the first spring I was at the company, to the 10 people who are still here and it made me laugh.  One person commented, “{so-and-so} had more hair!”  Ha!!  A few people had more hair, and some of us had darker hair {where does all this grey come from!?}.

All of us still here, who were in that picture, have had at least one child, while most of us have had all of our kids since that picture was taken.  We’ve endured hardships together.  We’ve prayed together for our company, for relatives and for friends.  It’s been a great 11.58 years working beside him {and the others}.

So to my friend, I say, “Farewell.  Please don’t be a stranger.   You will be missed…greatly.”