This last week on September 30th I “celebrated” a special one-year anniversary, the anniversary of being laid off by Olympus. In a stark contrast to where I was a year previously…I spent Thursday morning in planning meetings discussing strategies for supporting the billions of dollars of sales that we will process in Q4, then off to a Leadership Appreciation luncheon where there was singing and dancing and a nice lunch all to thank Leadership for their hard work, then back to the office for a meetings about staff hiring and financial reporting. A year earlier, one of my best friends and I packed my Olympus office into boxes and carried my stuff out to my truck. As we packed we discussed better days we had seen in the company, how far the organization had slid, about a bright future we hoped existed for the business, and that I’d be OK. I knew I’d be OK and I genuinely hoped for better days for the business, despite the layoff I still cared about them.
As I look back over the last year…
- I was blessed to be able to kick-off a very successful consulting profession and try my hand at something I had long wanted to try.
- I was hired by Amazon to a role that I SWEAR was written for my skills and interest – I LOVE this job!
- My faith has grown; I never thought it weak, but I see the growth that has came from the experiences.
- I’ve learned a lot… lots and lots and lots.
- I feel closer to my family than ever before… Trevor is getting older and developing interests and relationships, Lucy and I are spending more time together, and family events seem so much richer.
- I’ve developed relationships with friends that I think I will have the rest of my life no matter where life takes any of us.
- I’ve had the chance to spend some incredible time with youth in our congregation and I’m blessed to be able to work so closely with them.
- I’ve been tempted on numerous occasions to send a thank you card to a certain someone at Olympus that I’m sure that he was getting the last laugh with my lay-off – I hope he is as happy as I am!
God is certainly looking out for each and every one of us. That quiet comfort that comes in times of trial, those friends and family that seem to be there at just the right time, those opportunities that come open that you never saw coming but they put you on a path to something wonderful, these are all gifts from above. I’m so grateful for all that I’ve been blessed with and I fondly think of a plaque in my sister-in-law’s house that says “The best things in life aren’t things!”
It was a great day, a special anniversary. It was great to look back and see where you have been and how you’ve been so blessed.
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