Unfortunately, saying thank you seems to be an afterthought more and more. So at least once a month, I will take a few minutes to publicly appreciate someone that has had an impact on me.
This round: Agile Alliance Board
As some of you may know I was on the Agile Alliance board from 2018-2020. I chose not to renew a second term so my ending was a bit abrupt in that 2020 meant no in-person opportunities to say goodbye etc. Of course, these teammates sent me a little notebook and scarf as an appreciation gift but not getting to hug anyone or say thank you in person to each other…just sucked a bit.
Now I’ve stayed in touch with a number of them (ok most of them) in a variety of ways over the past two years. So one of the first things I did when I arrived at Agile 2022, was joined this group for a little euchre and catch up time. What I didn’t expect was they surprised me with a gift. What the gift was is slightly irrelevant. What makes me stop and really appreciate this is two factors: one, this was something we had talked about for years getting and it just never happened; two, they included me when they didn’t have to. To know that there was a conversation in some form that said “we should do this for Tricia (and others) too”, honestly brings tears to my eyes. This was an appreciation gift to me that I didn’t have any expectations of and truly made me feel seen and valued.
So thank you. Being independent can be lonely at times and you all reminded me that I have lots of teammates always.
Tricia
