One of the things that’s been necessary in order to be able to take an extended time away from work and other commitments is to train someone to fill in for me.
We’ve been working on this for about 6 months or so at work. We hired a Level 2/3 Support Engineer around the first of the year, partly to begin transitioning me from a Customer Support management role to Product Management, but also to cover the month I’ll be gone.
I have to pause for a moment and acknowledge my boss, Tom Fanelli, whose response when I told him I was planning a month long vacation was “well we have two years to make it so you can leave it behind for a month.” And he has been pushing to leave things behind mentally while I’m fine. That’s not easy for me.
But we’re to that place. Yes, I’ll have a computer with me and *could* access stuff remotely if needed…but I’m confident it won’t be needed. The computer is more for access to stuff for my side hustle, which I don’t have backup for.
See the guy sitting by the post, center left of the photo? That’s Luke. He’s filling in for me at church. I am a contract Audio Engineer for Life.Church in Derby, about 4 miles from home. It has been a bit intimidating, this transition, because Luke has a few years experience in the live concert field, and unlike me he still has his full range of hearing. I am impaired in the upper mid-range due to years of playing my headphones too loud.
Today is full-turnover day for me. And I was able to really let go and worship. It was great to be out of my head and into the worship experience.
Bottom line, the experience of letting go has been a good one. I thank God and the people he has put in leadership over me for the opportunity to fully disconnect and recharge.
and then