Goodbye, John.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog posts so I can say today was one of the toughest days I've ever had in the nine years I've spent at Sons of Norway. I posted a while back about our CEO, John Lund, announcing his retirement. Well, today was his last day at the office. You could feel it in the air that there was something different about today. There were a number of sad faces, more than a few tears and a lot of reminiscing.

As I stood in his office, this afternoon, trying to find my own words for goodbye, all I could think of was the many fond memories I have of working with John. After spending nearly a decade working for him, there's more stories and memories than I can count, but as I stood there shaking his hand and saying goodbye they all came rushing back to the forefront--as if they happened yesterday. That made it tough. Real tough. He's been a great leader, mentor and friend over the years.

I know the company is in good hands for the immediate future with Eivind Heiberg as our Interim CEO, but I'm gonna miss John.

If anyone else would like to share a story or memory about working with John, or wish him well in his newly minted life of leisure, please do so in the comment section of the website.