Get to Work: A Late Remembrance

One of my most favorite messages that I have ever received, truly, is on a Post-it note from Despair.com, and this note is full of misspellings. And I love it something fierce, enough so that I apparently still have the note five and a half years after I found it stuck to the monitor in my office of the Harvey Mudd College Engineering Department.

My dear, dear friend Brooke Riggio worked as the Engineering System Administrator for three years after he graduated from Mudd in 2001. I graduated from Mudd in 2004 and then up into the same professional position. Brooke moved to Seattle and I missed him, he who was ever-present in my Claremont life.

But before Brooke really truly left our tiny office, down in the basement off the ECF, I suppose he wanted to pass on a bit of encouragement. And so there it was, and there it stayed stuck to my monitor as a reminder over the two years I spent down there:

I did my best to follow his advice, to remember my value and purpose, and I was thankful for Brooke's direction. I did a good job as the Engineering SysAdmin, for sure, and I truly enjoyed helping people while I was there. I left Claremont for Seattle in 2006, and I left that job, and I again followed Brooke. I joined him in consulting in Seattle and he shepherded me through this transition.

I can say, with some certainty, that without Brooke I would not be so happy and independent and successful in this life as I am today. Thank you, friend. Many of you others have likewise supported me and I give my thanks to you as well. So, always remember:

• You rock
• You can totally do this job
• You're here to help
• You're loved
• You Rock!

I may not have followed Brooke once I got up to Seattle—his was the way of wife and children and mine was of crippling lack of purpose and eventual departure for southern adventures—but he will always be a hero and an inspiration. Brooke, you rock, and I love you, too.