Back It Up, Susan

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellow,

Today was the last ever Project Gromit team meeting. Theoretically I should not have attended as I am already off the project but ah... nostalgia and affection got the better of me. 

It was doubly sad because Sam has also announced his resignation in the last week. He is a quite brilliant man - a wonderful speaker, an expert on all things Microsoft and a gentle, kind, funny man. 

He told us it was the project that had kept him around this long. That it is the best work he's ever done and the thing he is most proud of in his career. "But now I need new challenges," he sighed.

It is unfortunate that he's been in Auckland while the rest of the team is down here. I think we would have spent a lot of time together if he'd been in the neighbourhood. He and I share a LOVE of cheesy action films and often conversed in the form of action movie memes. 

When I heard he was going, I sent him Arnie saying, "Hasta La Vista, Baby". 

It had to be done. 

So this wasn't just goodbye to the project, it was goodbye to Sam too. He seemed quite emotional and we all talked (unprompted) on what the project has meant to us. 

And then - LIKE SHE KNEW - Shenée sent me a message saying she was bored and lonely and did I want to chat. 

JOIN OUR MEETING!!! I texted her. 

And the next thing we knew, there she was. And it was just like old times with all of us laughing together again. Ellie amused us all by talking about her new role (working alongside me) in a team where she is essentially the gatekeeper to new development requests. 

"I was looking at one this morning," she told us. "And it was just ridiculous so I was all, 'BACK IT UP, SUSAN!'"

No, I don't know why Susan either. But I do love it as a phrase.

As for Sam, Shenée and I are actually making plans to go and visit him in Auckland at the end of July. And I think that cheered him up a lot.

"I love this," he said. "I love that Symon invited Shenée into the meeting. It's like we've come full circle and I can say goodbye properly." 

I know that for the last year or so I've been telling you, "It's not just me". And I don't know how much you have believed me. I can be a sentimental old sock, as I'm sure you know. But this meeting cemented it. It's NOT just me. This is a group of people who have genuine love and affection for each other. We're a family.

They are always going to be in my life. And while I can't help but feel sad at the ending of things, that does not in any way override just how grateful I am in my heart and soul that what happened, happened. 

After the meeting I chatted for a little while to Shenée on her own (mainly to sort out our Auckland trip). But she talked candidly with me about the project for a while too. She told me it had started as an experiment - just to see what happened if you treated people with kindness. Now she says it's the best thing she's ever done.

And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make

I used to think it was a cute lyric but that was all. 

Now I see things quite differently. 

I have nothing cynical to add. 

S.