When Saying GoodBye Is Hard

So far this year I have experienced a lot of goodbyes.

After 10 years shuffling kids through our local elementary school, our youngest is graduating – moving to middle school. She is saying goodbye, and so are we. A decade of routines, relationships, fundraisers, concerts, and field days.

I have also seen a few of our most dear and special clients experience downsizing or rightsizing (depending on who you ask). Having also worked with them for a decade, I have said goodbye to colleagues who I have quite literally grown up with. They will be moving to new chapters of their lives – with new jobs and new colleagues. And let me stress that everyone is alive and well. But it's still change for them and for us.

As New Yorkers, when friends move to the suburbs and say, “it is just 40 mins on the train! We will see each other all the time,” we both know that’s a lie. Twice a year – tops.

In the working world, we won’t be in the same meetings, Slacking each other with our private commentary (I hope you don’t do that during my meetings). We won’t be able to celebrate or commiserate the daily ups and downs. We won’t know what’s going on at home – with the kids and the dogs and the parents. We may get the high-level suitable-for-a-call-with-your-great-aunt version, but not the down and dirty version.

Colleagues are special.

The coworkers we have today could make up the most significant relationships in our lives. We are making an impression on each other every day. When we look back at our careers in retirement, we will most likely be remembering the people we worked with rather than the reports we wrote.

So, I remind myself to listen more, give others grace, be a shoulder to cry on, provide encouragement and laugh together. We have time.