[2021-09-09] Packing up a career

Today, I cleaned out my office. I thought it would feel bittersweet. However, the emotion I felt was nostalgia—warm thoughts of my 5 years with Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada and 28 years with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).

I reminisced as I boxed all sorts of treasures:
  • A stapler I found in 1988 in my first NRCan office and carried with me for the next 33 years.
  • A faded photo of Chris in his younger days, pre-1988, and multiple photos of our kids in two frames—a gift from Chris in 1993 or thereabouts.
  • A report I helped to produce in 1994 on the impacts of investments by NRCan's Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (better known as CANMET).
  • A photo of me sporting a blonde wig and balloon breasts for a Charitable Campaign fundraiser, circa 2007.
  • A framed certificate when I won the Deputy Minister's Award at NRCan in 2014 and an accompanying four-pound art piece cast in NRCan's CanmetMATERIALS laboratory.
  • An award from the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada in 2016 for fostering a healthy workplace.
  • A welcome sign that adorned the wall outside my Health Canada office on the 14th floor of the Brooke Claxton building from September 2016 to today.
These were welcome reminders of my family's enduring presence in my life, of some of the contributions I made during my career, and of memories that made me smile or made me proud.

Artifacts aid recollection but never provide a complete history of the people and places we encounter over a career. Fortunately, we have memories for that.

As I think about the many people I worked with over the years, I am reminded of this quote by Sir Isaac Newton: "If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." I owe much of my professional success to numerous learned and nurturing bosses, a myriad of brilliant and kind colleagues, countless supportive and talented employees, and sundry exacting but respectful clients.

I have been fortunate, through the past year, to have reconnected with many former colleagues—people I knew from my earliest years in government—and to have stayed connected with people I worked with as recently as a year ago.

To all my coworkers—bosses, colleagues, employees, clients—I extend a heartfelt thank you for your support, encouragement, coaching, challenge, example, kindness, humour, consolation, recognition and love. I will not forget you.