Holy smacks! Every day at work we have a 30 minute meeting at 4:30 that usually lasts until 6:00. (It's just like how 'rush hour' isn't really an hour.) Anyway, today I walked in, late, and the team was sitting around the table waiting for me. Sadly, they are frequently waiting for me. Only this time was special. For me at least. This time they were waiting with gifts! No, it's not my birthday. I was totally confused. Especially since Monday was Young B's birthday and we haven't celebrated it, since he was out on vacation. And then I found out: Today marks three years -- three! -- that I've been on this project. It's a celebration, b*tches. Or a consolation, depending on your perspective. I choose the former.
This project has not been the easiest. It's a behemoth task, building a piece of software as a piece of a much larger initiative, that only executive management wants. Our development team is in NYC, many of our users would prefer to remain in the system that they're already using and often it feels like we're swimming upstream. Sometimes I want to pull out my hair, but then I remember that I wouldn't look good bald and people would probably talk about me. ("Whoa! Did you see Vanessa's hair? She has patches missing. And she tries to comb over them like we're not going to notice.") So I don't.
Two things keep me moving forward: 1. I believe in what we're building and 2. This incredible team. The people I work with are really, really smart and positive and quick-witted and savvy and just, well, neat. I am constantly inspired by them. And I'm not just saying that because they bought me presents and made me homemade banana pudding and wrote me the sweetest card ever. I'm saying it because I'm a really lucky girl, and I know that.
I won't admit to crying but I *may* have felt like there was something in my eye.
Banana pudding before:
Banana pudding after:
