My Memory Box

Patrick Pichette, one of Google's highest-ranking executives, announced on Tuesday that he'd be retiring from his role at the company.

...And Tamar out of the blue said "Hey, why don't we just keep on going". Let's explore Africa, and then turn east to make our way to India, it's just next door, and we're here already. Then, we keep going; the Himalayas, Everest, go to Bali, the Great Barrier Reef... Antarctica, let's go see Antarctica!?" Little did she know, she was tempting fate.

I remember telling Tamar a typical prudent CFO type response- I would love to keep going, but we have to go back. It's not time yet, There is still so much to do at Google, with my career, so many people counting on me/us - Boards, Non Profits, etc

But then she asked the killer question: So when is it going to be time? Our time? My time? The questions just hung there in the cold morning African air.

A few weeks later, I was happy back at work, but could not shake away THE question: When is it time for us to just keep going? And so began a reflection on my/our life.....

It takes an exorbitant level of energy for me to focus at work, especially during work meetings. Today, I was in charge of taking meeting notes via a phone meeting and I usually do a good job... but today the lady on the phone sounded like Phoebe from Friends and my mind kept imagining her as Phoebe and how ridiculous it was because the conversation was so technical and boring, no way it could be Phoebe. Then, my mind started thinking about how crazy it is that with all the people on this earth, how our vocal chords are just different thicknesses and shapes to create unique sounds... but how I can never tell the difference between the women on the call even though they sound different... just no face to put with the voices... and then I came back to reality and missed a whole chunk of important information and I hope they don't get mad at me for failing to capture essential action items >.<