Long, tired nights are spent working on the new site and rubbing the bleary eyes. The monitor's glare feels uncomfortably impersonal sometimes. But it's all for a purpose... there's a goal to be reached.
Days stretch into weeks... start running together. What progress was made yesterday? What is there to show for the hours spent crunching code and customizing? Well... progress is progress, and eventually it'll pay off. ... Where's the booze? It's time for a break.
But then, too far ahead of schedule, circumstances change... a storm washes over, and the old site suffers damage. What once was to be a leisurely planned, orderly polishing and unveiling becomes a mad rush to squeeze every possible development from every minute of available time.
The walls get painted, doors get bolted on, windows fitted... little breakthroughs are made. It won't be perfect from the start... but it'll do. It'll work.
The whole team is gathered and focused on the goal. Forums are combined, rearranged. Stylesheets are tweaked, sliced, and reshaped. Permissions groups are outlined, formed, and implemented. Handles, passwords, signatures... whole identities are transferred smoothly over to the new location.
It's getting closer. Testers are brought in to look everything over, see what breaks, find the little things that can be hard to spot when working on the big picture. Glitches are fixed, typos corrected, missing elements restored.
Finally, it's time. It's still not yet perfect, but the hard work and dedication of many have, indeed, paid off.
The announcement is made, the ribbon is cut, the link is posted.
The floodgates open.
And while one handful of miracle workers sighs exhaustedly and leans back for a well-earned rest, another takes a deep collective breath of determination.
The Tower is up... now to get hundreds of residents settled in and integrated.
To the crack team of techs and admins, I just wanted to make sure you knew that there are those of us who are able to appreciate just how much time and energy you have sacrificed to make this transition possible.
From someone who has had to do nearly the exact same thing in the past, know this... You are the miracle workers. You are the dreamers of dreams. You create what others can only appreciate.
And you are loved for it.
Take time to rest, and take time to let yourself feel the love and appreciation of your friends and family around the world, brought together via TarValon.Net.