I was overwhelmed at the response and was glad so many people came out to share in the occasion. I wish I had the chance to speak to everyone individually, but having everyone in the same room together did afford me the opportunity to say a few words of appreciation for all the positive support and great memories during my time with the organization.

However, there are many sentiments of appreciation that floated through my mind for the rest of the day; ones that I wish I had taken an extra moment in the past year to say to people, but the moment never seemed quite right. Things like, thank you for your kindness; for taking that moment way back when and asking how I was doing; for being a pleasure to work with; for always being a positive and cheerful presence, because even though we seldom talked, it was nonetheless appreciated. Things like that. But I’ve been fortunate to work with many individuals for whom the thank yous aren’t their raison d’etre. Not to say those sentiments aren’t appreciated, but they do the things they do because they’re good people.

It really will be the people I miss the most.