What can you say?
I had almost a year to prepare for it. Karen got a horrible diagnosis last September. Everyone knew the magnitude of the news. Stage 4 cancer. Multiple locations. Which one to attack first? How hard to hit it?
10 days ago I got the news--Karen had taken a turn for the worse. Home Hospice. "The end is near". And so I told myself "I know what's coming, I'll go through my mourning now and be prepared for the news when it actually arrives". I sent a note to my rep team, ending it with "I'm gonna go cry now". And I did.
Then it arrived. A slug to the gut combined with a shot to the head. And I realized I was in no way prepared for the news. 25 years of knowing and working with her had ended. And as it is with all deaths, I thought of myself and MY loss. It's a selfish act that ignores the greater impact.
I certainly didn't have a monopoly on the professional and personal gain I realized by knowing her. She waded into shark-infested waters to create the Incentive Marketing Association in an atmosphere of conflict and bad feelings. She negotiated truces, made reparations, and handled the highest of the High Maintenance types with tact and consideration.
It was so fitting that we are all together, here at the IMA Summit, when we got the news. It allows us to grieve as a group, to celebrate the life and try not to mourn the death. I thought of Kate, Karen's daughter, who has followed her mother into our channel and is growing into a solid professional. I don't have the eloquence to say how sorry I am.
So I'll mourn, and hopefully will put these emotions to the side. Not "behind me" because that would be an insult to the power and grace Karen brought to our business. "On the side"--taking it with me as I move forward, remembering the valuable counsel and partnership that she gave without any expectation of return.
We'll not see her kind again. I'll go and find the patch for the hole in my heart...
Pete
posted by Pete Mitchell at 7:32 PM
2 Comments:
Many of us share your sentiments. We're in the midst of the Summit; I was at dinner with about 12 other people and of course, we had a toast to "the one who isn't with us" - the comment was also added, "the same one without whom the rest of us wouldn't be here". Karen was a trusted source for business and personal advice. She demonstrated time and again that she could keep a confidence. On a professional level, she was quite literally IMA's "memory" and we will no longer be able to pick up the phone or shoot off an email and ask, "Karen, do you remember what the deal was with....?" Even after she retired, we knew we could reach out to her if we really needed to. We're going to have to make our own way now.
I'm so grateful that she started the Caring Bridge site, not just because I appreciated the updates but because it gave so many of us a chance to let her know how much she meant to us and how much we appreciated her support. Many times those stories are shared only after someone has died - we got to show our appreciation and affection while she was still here.
So much sympathy for her family and a masterful retirement plan gone awry.
I think I'll cry with you now, Pete.
Pete
What a beautiful a tribute to Karen. She had a beautiful soul and touched so many of us in so many ways.
And although she is gone, she will never be forgotten. She is a peace and in a higher place.
Peter W. Hart
Post a Comment
<< Home