John Harlow Hirst

Working with Your Peeps

My dad, John Harlow Hirst, died today. He was a good dad and grandpa.

He was 90 years old and in hospice. I thought I was prepared. Still, he’s my dad, and you’re never fully prepared for losing a parent.

We had an ArcMoot (our version of an all-hands-on-deck meeting) scheduled for today. The ArcMoots are named after Lord of the Rings Entmoots. Yes, David (and others at ArcStone) are definitely geeks, and these references are woven throughout our culture.

ArcMoots are held quarterly and cover what happened last quarter, what we’re working on right now, etc. David asked if I wanted to cancel it since I had just received news that my dad had died. I thought about it for a bit but then wondered what I would be doing if I wasn’t at the Moot. It was tough to schedule, and wrangling everyone was challenging. I told him, “No, let’s do it.”

I posted the news about my dad in Slack before the moot. I wanted people to have the space to process the news, and making the announcement at the beginning of the moot felt weird.

I received so many thoughtful and loving responses. My work colleagues are my peeps. They care about me, and I care about them. I didn’t want to cancel the moot because my work colleagues are some of the people I turn to when life gets hard. Plus, my dad ALWAYS asked me about ArcStone. He was genuinely proud of what we created.

Work doesn’t feel as much like work when you love the people you get to work with every day.

I’m grateful for the love and support my co-workers give me every day.