10 years

Tomorrow is my 10 year anniversary with the company (C) I work for. 10 years. I say that in a mix of wonderment and disbelief. My previous record was just over three and I liked it that way. I was/am a firm believe in building a broad range of experience while you are young, before you commit to a path that may be more narrow but so much richer for all the skills and experiences that you have picked up along the way.

When I joined C the company in Canada had about 480 employees... today we have 1,200. The wider company we are a part of had 100,000 employees... today we have more than 300,000. As you can imagine with this type of growth comes a lot of change. C is in a perpetual change cycle. Over the years I can say that some of it has been good, some of it not so well thought out and some... well, lets just say I think they learned their lesson.

The C I work for today is a massive organization but it's doing a lot of things right. It is focusing more heavily on its obligation to the shareholder through its risk control and it is focusing more heavily, and systematically, on it's people. There are huge opportunities for those that are ready and willing to take advantage of those opportunities. In a company this size there are issues - it's hard to take a personalized approach to 300,000 employees. Performance appraisal and pay for performance is a brutally painful process. It always has been and I don't see that ever changing. The neat thing about working for C is that because the change is forever there, it affords you the opportunity to develop new skill sets on a regular basis. Even staying in the same job there is opportunity for growth... that's worth a lot.

In the past 10 years things have changed immeasurably on the personal front... a few things that pop to mind

1. I met my husband... the same day that I had my final interviews with C. So my personal and work history is forever entwined

2. I had an instant family. Two weeks before I started work Mr. then 3 and Mr. then 5 entered my life. For the most part this has been an amazing journey.

3. I got married

4. We bought our house

5. I had a child. My daughter. To this day I can look at her and think to myself "I did that???" I did a good thing.

6. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

7. my mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer

8. my father was diagnosed with colon cancer. In the same year as my mom

9. the boys came to live with us full time. Wow - what a change!

10. I had weight loss surgery - the Duodenal Switch. This blog chronicles this life changing event.

The last 10 years have been challenging, rewarding, soul sapping, soul raising, life affirming and horrendously sad among so many other things. Work has been a great part of that - at times leading me to great joy and at other times adding incredible stress and heartache. The common thread for the past 10 years is that my personal life and work life were never separate. They were threads weaving together... one affecting the other... some times each a little weak, sometimes each a little strong. Overall they have woven the fabric of a good life. I am thankful for all the experiences - for they have allowed me to grow stronger.

Wow 10 years... I did that?