Its not a ride in the park.

It was the usual weekly project meeting when I got into the room.

They were all discussing the metrics for the past week, the working targets and some project updates.

Didn't think there would be something out of the ordinary until it was almost 6pm.

Two of the team members rushed in and they halted Lala from leaving.

Suddenly a powerpoint presentation was infront of everyone.

Cheesy? Not really.

It was just a collection of old pics of Lala with the team played along a background song that I do not know what is but its catchy.

After the 10-minute presentation, someone asked Lala what she feels now that she is rolling off, and it was her last day.

She couldn't speak because she is now crying. After four attempts to utter some words, she said, "I feel happy and sad."

And another question was asked, "How was it working with the team?"

With a smile, she said, "Well..it is not a ride in the park."

Very true.

Alongside her powerpoint presentation, I was doing some flashbacks of my own.

I rolled into the team last year, and some sixteen months later, I somehow believed every inch of that "not a ride in the park"...

Of how many times I got sacked because of some client issues. Or how many times I had to attend a conference call with a counterpart who couldn't help save my ass.

But Lala was also right in saying that the team has improved alot and that she is happy to leave the team now that it has gone better and with more interaction from the subteams.

On her last few messages, I smiled mainly because I realized that the only thing permanent inside the company is change, and with the quick turn of events, who knows who would roll off next.

But I am also glad that I was able to work with Lala. Her managerial style is a mixture of fun and pressure and concerns that you sometimes do not see but would later on realize that it is there.

I couldn't really call her my mentor even if she was assigned as my mentor and also my manager. For me, mentoring would have to be more than just a couple of meetings.

Yet, she will always be an inspiration because I saw in her the determination. The will to always deliver to the client's expectation even if sometimes she had to be so hard to her subordinates.

While at some point, working with her is not a ride in the park, in all other points it was a stroll.