You Only Know It's Camelot When It Ends

Every so often you hit a sweet spot in your work life. You enjoy your work, your work space is comfy, your colleagues are your work family and your boss rocks. It can be difficult to get all four at the same time, but when you do it's Camelot: The legendary time and place filled with potential and promise of the future. I have had the fortune to stumble upon a professional Camelot four times in my career, and each time I was happy.

The first consisted of the great boss and enjoyable work, my workspace sucked and I didn't have colleagues I considered family. The awesome boss left and I was thrown into chaos for a few months. Then the Dolce Vita happened. I came to share a great office space, with two colleagues that became my work family.  We knew we made each other happy, and understood that there was some special chemistry among us and the space where we worked, but we never saw the end coming. And that is how you know it was Camelot. It is the end that brings the awareness of the specialness of the period. In the years since we've met, we have seen each other through two births, two weddings and the fall of our Camelot.

It would be years before I would find another magical work environment. The change came quickly. My old boss left. Her replacement was her opposite in almost every way. Losing her was not the worst thing, but her replacement didn't inspire any of us on the team. Most jumped shipped, and then there was just the two of us, me and him. It was an exercise in conflict and resolution. We came out on the other side in my third Camelot. This time I had a great office, loved the work, my boss had my back and he became my work family. He was well into his 60s. When we talked movies or books he had an original perspective. There was the time we had him over for dinner and we were discussing the highly intellectual topic of R.R. Tolkien. He told me he remembered reading The Hobbit on the plane to Vietnam. We made a great team, but as all Camelots do, it came to a sudden end.

That brings me to my fourth and current Camelot. This has been the best one yet. My office space is enviable if not highly decorated. I love the work and I am respected for my efforts. My closest colleagues are my work family. We have dinner together most Friday nights and text each other incessantly about both the mundane and the crucial. The very best part of all though is the boss. He is a leader, a mentor, a champion and warrior. He is funny, smart, loyal and curious about everything. He is a family man, a religious man, a fair man and my friend. And for reasons beyond all of our control Camelot is coming to an end. It is a sad time for us but, I hold on to the promise that a new Camelot is coming. It is never the same, but it always amazing.