The Flickr Years

Five years ago I moved to Vancouver, on a week's notice, to work at Flickr.

At the time I wrote: I am excited about both the work and the chance to live in Vancouver but in an equal action/reaction kind of way the thought of leaving Montréal crushes me every time I think about it. I don't know where the balance is between nuturing the roots you lay and being able to let go and explore. ... I have reservations but it seems like too good an opportunity and one that I would always wonder about if I'd said no.

Five years ago I asked Stewart Why me? and he replied Because you're one of us. I will always be grateful to him for that and for the chance to help prove that, yes, it really is possible.

And now it's time to let go, again, and explore.

It is difficult and sad to leave Flickr but I have no regrets. If you asked me whether I'd do it again and what I'd do differently I'd tell you that I'd do it again in a heartbeat and the only thing I'd change would be to try to do it harder and louder and faster than we already did.

The good news is that I've accepted a position to frolic around and play with the trouble-makers that are Stamen Design because it seems like too good an opportunity and one that I would always wonder about if I'd said no.

It's not often you get to say something like that twice in a row and in the immortal words of Gibby Haynes: It's better to regret something you have done than to regret something you haven't done.

That's what I told myself five years ago, anyway.