Thank You For Being A Friend

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellow,

I'm feeling good today. The last couple of weeks have seen me unsettled and grumpy so it's a relief to feel my mood improving. 

I think part of it is having Caro back in the house. She seems very happy and I wonder if it's partly the relief of being back home where things are not so stressful for her. Mount Maunganui sounded quite tiring.

On the work front, things are also better. Ellie and I have been chatting in the evenings and we both have plans. Even though things have been tough, we are both optimistic and upbeat this week. 

I mean, I guess it says something when we find ourselves talking about work at 8pm and still enjoying ourselves. 

However today was doubly nice. I've been asked to work on a THIRD thing. But it's for Project Manager Jess, who I have never mentioned before. Jess is another Shenée acolyte. Basically, when Shenée was at Kāinga Ora she mentored a group of women she named, "The Golden Girls". They were:

- Ellie
- Corrie
- Jess

And since you know the high regard I have for Ellie and Corrie, you can imagine how I feel about working with Jess. Also it makes me smile to think I will now have worked with ALL The Golden Girls - including Shenée (clearly she is the Rue McClanahan of the group).

Jess's welcome email also made me feel happy.

Literally when your name came up they didn’t even have the chance to finish saying it before I literally yelled YESSSS!!! across the room.

I'll be working with another BA on this, her name is Shalom and she's from Alaska. I've had fun chats with her before about how she used to have to "clap for bears" when walking through her home town. She was also effusive. 

Are you going to be on Jess's project with me? For some reason I thought it was the other Simon, but I'd be thrilled if it was you!

It's nice to be wanted. 

I think I have Shenée to thank for this. She continues to have a big influence on all of us. As you can see from today's blip. Losi - who is a sentimental teddy bear of a chap - decided to set up a Teams group for the Project Gromit team so we can all stay in touch, even though we are now drifting apart (April also resigned yesterday).

It makes me happy inside. You can see how she brought us all together. And is STILL in the centre of things. I hope it is always like this.

S.