The highs and lows of my job....

I have resigned from my job. It was a great run while it lasted and it was time to move on which I am equally looking forward to doing. Consequently,  I was privileged to have been a guest of honour at my farewell dinner where thoughts and stories were shared and I was honoured by the kind words that were spoken...

Here are some of my top five memories/stories...

1) The funniest

An incident came across our senior management desk which I will remember forever. In short, a ball had smashed a stained window of one of our beautiful buildings. The window was an intricate pane that we were unsure of where and when it would be able to be replaced..... A claim was requested from the kaiako (teacher) of the tauira (student) that kicked the ball (and had no cause to be doing so - as his course was not a sports one) that smashed the window. The claim came through and I tell you no lies - the words that make me smile to to this day, are found in the answer to the question what happened?, to which the written answer was "the window picked up the ball and pushed it through the window...." The wind ;-) and no there was no reports of cyclones or tornadoes that day.

2) The sadest

As I worked for such a large organisation - there was inevitably going to be losses - of which were experienced with the deaths of a colleague, fathers, mothers (including mine), sisters, brothers and even babies. In fact I met the smallest tupapaku (body) in my life during my service and more than that, I my life was touched as I saw the physical and emotional turmoil and pain of his mama - of who remains in my thoughts to this day. Next to this is when a tauira took his own life - that was a tragedy and was again one of ths sadest times of my employment. 

3) The hardest

Over the years I have had to inform people that they were going to be made redundant. I have had to do this on so many occasions that I can't recall the number, but what I can do is remember how hard - not in terms of skills required to do it, but in actually informing someone that their livelihood was over. It was sobering, and no matter how many times I did (and without training) - it was still the hardest. In fact when I saw the movie Up in the Air - I totally related to it... totally.

4) The best

I loved the vision of the organisation I worked for and will always be privileged to have been part of it for so long.... which was whanau transformation through education. This was no more evident than at the graduation ceremonies that are held every year. I will always remember the people the crossed the stage so happy in their achievements acompanied by the calls from the audience of their whanau (family). I was always stirred by the pride of the families as they did a karanga, or shared waiata or haka.

5) The places

The one thing that I will miss about my job are the places that I have had the privilege to visit. Being a regional position I had the opportunity to travel throughout the Tainui rohe and saw things and been to places that I had never been before. Included in this are the many Marae throughout four iwi which will always be a highlight. Through work I have also travelled throughout the country and stayed in accomodation that I would never have had the chance to before, including Sydney and Melbourne. But I have to say that nothing will ever take the place of climbing Taupiri maunga to celebrate Matariki this year - now that was priceless.

So I thank the people I worked with, many of whom I will never forget - because without the them (and they know who they are) there would have been no memories. 

Yours in friendship,

Mxo