While I don't expect that this will be a typical post for me, it has been a challenging week. I learned yesterday morning that one of my team members passed away after a multi-year battle with cancer. I am choosing to talk about him as my first blog post in hopes that in some small way this might honour his memory.
If you have ever known someone in your life who was the eternal optimist, this is how I would describe my teammate, Tom Pitka. Tom never had an unkind word for anyone, was always smiling, and never once complained about the hand life had dealt him. Tom represented the best of what humanity has to offer, and what we should all aspire to be as human beings- someone who sees the best in everyone, and lived his life to the fullest, taking advantage of every opportunity both in his work and personal life to have a positive impact on those around him.
I cannot take credit for the content below, but the amount of emails I received honouring Tom I think help capture the man he was and the positive influence he had on his community. I share just a couple:
He was a kind and gentle person person who always had a smile on his face and kind words to say about others. Tom made the most of his time spent here on the planet and will be missed by those who knew him over the years.
Tom was one of the kindest, most thoughtful, and gentle persons I have known. He was also one of the most courageous. What a fighter. Of the many lessons life has taught me, one of the most important to me is, Who we are can be defined by the manner in which we face adversity. Tom should be a lesson to us all in how to live with faith, courage, and dignity.
Closing thought:
Tom is an inspiration to me in terms of how I want to live my life, how I would like to treat others, and my life is all the richer for having known him.
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