Thank you for the incredible journey...

I toyed with a lot of clichés when I started writing this letter. Sometimes there’s no better way to say what you want to say than a cliché.

Some of them were...

·      The journey is what really matters.

·      Every cloud has a silver lining.

·      Every ending is just a new beginning.

Terrible writing, I know. Thing is, I’m not trying to be a good writer here. I’m trying to say thank you and to recognize a very special group of people.

A few months ago, I left a team that mattered deeply to me. This team was, and will likely always be, the most incredible group of people I have ever worked with. What we built together, often in conditions where it was much harder than it needed to be, I am tremendously proud of - and I know all of you are too. Listing all the things we never should have been able to do, but did, and often better than anyone else, would be a monumental task. I have never experienced so much pride, so often, then through this experience.

Sure, we failed. Sometimes majestically. Yet looking back at those failures, or the most difficult moments of that journey, I find myself smiling. My memories are not of those failures, or the lost opportunities, but rather the rallies that followed them. If you’ve never been part of a team that is so close and so committed to one another that if/when one members falls, the entire team picks them up, then I feel for you. Find this somewhere before you retire.

Overcoming adversity and learning from your mistakes is so much easier when it’s a group effort. We could overcome anything - and we knew it. Going into battle with that kind of group standing beside you is empowering in ways that are too hard to put into words. 

So, to all of you who stood beside me on some or all of this journey I say thank you.

Thank you for making this the special journey that it was. Thank you for your support, for your guidance, and for your shoulder when I needed it most.

Thank you for your commitment - to me, to each other and to our cause. Thank you for your sweat, your tears, and your strength.

You inspired me every single day and I know you inspired each other. 

Thank you for making me better, for making each other better and for your trust.

Thank you for taking a chance on us.

With so many of us now starting a new journey, and many of us looking towards the future with inquisitive and hopeful eyes I ask you to remember this: 

You made it great. You made it fun. You made it special. You did. You and everyone around you. Don’t ever let anyone take that from you, and don’t ever forget it.

I know that you may have sadness left to feel. That’s ok. I still feel it sometimes too. But when I do, all I have to do is remind myself of the time I spent with all of you and that sadness is replaced with joy.

Thank you all for being a part of this journey... The journey is all that really matters. 

-Peter