Last night, I attended a beautiful, intimate wedding of a former work colleague. It was one of those events where the guest list was quite small, and if you are invited, you are incredibly flattered. At least, that's how I felt.
The groom and I met at work when I started. He's about eighteen years my junior. At first, we connected like I do with most every one when the company is very small. But he became different. As the company grew, he took an advantage of an opportunity to move abroad to London. This turned out to be a pretty extensive set of hurdles to jump through for both he and the company, and we ended up getting to know each other well during this time.
Once he landed in London, things didn't run as smoothly as we liked. We had some office leadership challenges and some difficulty penetrating a new market. However, he rolled up his sleeves and dug in. He did whatever he could to make it successful, with little direction. And my respect for him grew immensely. And our working relationship shifted. He wasn't just a co-worker anymore. I started thinking of him as my surrogate little brother. I was invested in his success, and I was doing everything I could back in the U.S. to make sure he felt connected, informed, and supported. I talk a lot about needing to know who has my back. Knowing the situation he was in over there, it was really important to me that he knew I had his back.
And while it wasn't the perfect business adventure for him, he ended up living in both London and Amsterdam during that time, and meeting the love of his life. I remember during one of our check-in meetings he introduced me to her on Skype, and how happy he seemed. And I realized in that moment that no matter what ended up happening with his time in Europe, it was in meeting her while over there that he found his greatest success.
They moved back to Boston, and now are off to a new adventure in San Francisco at a new company. I am so grateful that I got to share in their beautiful evening, meet their families, and catch up with some old friends. It was a lovely night, and my idea of the perfect wedding. Surrounded by the people you love, much laughter, and everyone on the dance floor the entire night.
I even caught the bouquet. Unintentionally. The bride tossed it, and it landed on the beer soaked floor. I bent down to pick it up, just as I had bent down to pick up about three broken glasses throughout the evening. Then I said, "oh s*it." And then I laughed. Who knows. Maybe its the sign of something good to come. Or maybe I just got to take home a beautiful arrangement of gorgeous peonies. It's a win-win either way.
Last night warmed my heart. Not only did I get to see someone I care about marry the woman he loves, but it was validation that my job is so much more to me than just a job. I make connections with people that are meaningful that go way beyond the workplace.
I put my heart into my work, and it pays me back a million times over.
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