Thanks Giving for a Wonderful Secretary
(My Secret Sharer)

Friday, November 22, 2002

Dear friends:

My former secretary died last week. Thanksgiving is next week. The two events figure powerfully in my mind at this moment.

Cele Muller was the secretary of First Church when I was the minister. She was the heart of the congregation, knowing more about what was important to the people than anyone. She was also the person in whom I confided more than any other. In the very best tradition of a SECRETARY, Cele was the person we trusted with our deepest secrets.

When I went off into the world of big business, Cele stayed at the church to help stabilize the congregation through the transition following my twenty-year ministry. Then she retired. When I started my own little business I asked her if she would be willing to come out of retirement to work with me again. She happily - for me and for her - said yes. We worked together for several more years before she really did retire and moved to Cape Cod.

About two years ago Cele discovered that she had cancer. In the last six months her condition worsened. Finally, little more than two weeks ago, they stopped all attempts to CURE her and brought in Hospice to help her loving family CARE for her. I will always count it as my good fortune that I was able to visit Cele five times in her last month. On every occasion we talked about the richness of our relationship. I thanked her for being my SECRETARY. She thanked me for being her BOSS.

And this gets me to the reason for this letter. Thanksgiving is next week. That is not just a day for eating the traditional turkey feast. It is a time to stop our everyday work, give ourselves a HOLIDAY, and be grateful.

If I may be so presumptuous, I would like to urge you to make sure you give thanks for those persons who work with you, actually telling them how much you appreciate them. Obviously, you want to tell that to your BOSS (if you have one) and your SECRETARY (if you have one). But you might also want to thank your co-workers, even the SKEPTICS, CYNICS, HERETICS, and SCAPEGOATS.There are two more cards coming in this little series of word studies. The next is BOSS. The final one is SECRETARY. I sent a copy of that card to Cele before she died. I let her know one final time how grateful I was that she had been my SECRETARY.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Please note: All of the italicized words have postcards about them. If you missed any of them and would like to receive periodic mailings form me, please contact me at bill@robertsconsultinginc.com and I will ask my present SECRETARY, Pam Miller, to put you on our mailing list.