Return to Sender?

I was just cleaning out some old boxes and found an old proposal. It’s from 2000, and a few things have changed.

The response was from a Company that was spun off from a larger company, the spinoff, was bought by a competitor, who also was bidding (and they lost). Actually we lost and won as the company I was with was bought by our competitor. Then, that in turn was bought by another competitor, which was bought by the company that spun it out.

The software we were proposing was the first time “my” company had proposed software with a brand-new partner. That software company, then an upstart was bought, by a larger company (and I later worked for that company), and is now the legacy software that many companies are looking to replace.

The proposal is addressed to a company that split, with the name going to the "other" line of business.

In the last month I have talked to, laughed with, worked with, or otherwise interacted with over a dozen of these same people that were parties to this proposal from 2000, and the various incarnations of the companies that came and gone along the way. Customers, prospects, colleagues and competitors alike. These are the same people who I reached out to when I was in the job market about a year ago.

If you are confused about any of the above, so am I, but this changing of the guard, of the ownership, is commonplace. Transient is the new stability; But the real, personal relationships I've built along the way are what's really important to me. No names named, companies or people

So if anyone knows the appropriate company to send this antique to (it is bound and indexed and of course printed - three of the originals we had made were courier delivered to the prospect), please let me know - I'd live to know who the rightful owner is. In the meantime I’m returning it to it’s place in my archives.

My memories of the people I built relationships with are what matters and have persevered the test of time.