The holiday season is a time of reflection and an opportunity to look back on all that has happened this past year. We also celebrate with family and friends and experience the joy of each other’s presence. This holiday season, I can’t help but reflect on 2019 and consider the entire decade that is coming to a close. It’s difficult to wrap my head around. The speed at which time passes and the volume of all that has transpired these past ten years is mind-blowing, to say the least!

So, I’ve attempted to recall the highlights, knowing that there are many, many more that I will add as I continue to reflect on my decade.

For me personally:

  • My son was two in 2010 and is now in 7th grade and on the verge of towering over his mom
  • My girls have graduated high school AND college AND we are planning for our first wedding!
  • We said goodbye to my dad and to my stepmom – too soon and too close together
  • My husband and I have now spent more than half our lives together
  • We have been in one home for an entire decade
  • We embraced and said goodbye to too many (and too many kinds) of pets to name here
  • I have run countless miles and biked a 300-mile AIDS ride in a four-day period three times
  • I have visited at least six new countries and fallen in love with their people, culture, food, and landscape
  • I have been blessed to celebrate 10 more birthdays and ten years with my family and friends – some that started the decade with me and many that I met during this time

At ConvergenceCoaching we have:

  • Spent more than half my life as partner and work spouse with Jennifer Wilson
  • Brought on four talented, smart, and committed team members, promoted a new partner and retired two incredible colleagues
  • Welcomed two new babies!
  • Launched our Transformational Leadership Program® and held more than 20+ programs transforming hundreds of future leaders
  • Seen the ascension of NextGen leadership from new young Managing Partners to staff who were in our leadership programs that are now partners in their firms
  • Participated in the privilege of transitioning retiring partners and witnessed their grace in firms across the country
  • Launched two web sites, a podcast series, our Rainmaker Development Program® and more educational offerings and thought leadership within the profession
  • Founded the CPA Consultants Alliance and The Consultants’ Trust that bring consultants together to make a bigger difference with our clients and in the profession
  • Weathered the Great Recession of 2008 – in our own company and supporting our clients through it, too
  • Celebrated the first African American U.S. President and witnessed the biggest tax reform to affect our profession

Wow! And this is a super-condensed summary of the past decade! While some of these things I might have predicted and was working towards, the fact is that as I reflect on the past ten years, I could not have foretold the wild ride and the rich blessings the 2010’s would deliver!

In my Episcopal faith, December is advent season, a time of great anticipation and hope. My hope for you as you reflect on this past decade is that you are filled with gratitude. My hope for you this coming year – and decade – is that you are filled with love, joy, good health and faith. And, that you have dear friends and family who experience it all with you!

Here’s to the amazing chapter we are closing and the anticipation and hope for a new year and new decade to come! May you have faith that it unfolds perfectly just as it is meant to and openly embrace all it has to offer.

I wish you peace this holiday season and gratitude for all that we have received. I also hope that you find time to reenergize and rekindle relationships with those you cherish. Thank you for being part of this past decade and I look forward to our journey in the 2020s with all the excitement and blessings that await each of us.

Warmly,

Tamera