Give Thanks...To Know Them Before They're Gone

 We never truly know another person--I wonder many times if we truly know ourselves. The best we can do is judge each other based on a few factors, the things they do (infinitely more important than the things they say...), an perhaps the biggest factor, how they make you feel.

Today, we lost one of the good ones.

And it stinks.

We moved from our previous neighborhood almost three years ago. In a way, it's been a lifetime, but in other ways, it's like we moved last year. Time if funny that way. Having lived on the same street for five decades, you get to know the area, the homes, the yards, the streets, and especially the people. I can't tell you definitively when his family moved in, but they were a staple, part of the community like a strong tree standing proud against a brilliant blue sky. 

Over the years, the family moved into a larger home just up the street. I still remember while out on a walk seeing his car motor up the hill, always giving each other a wave, but what I remember most were the conversations we had, especially around Thanksgiving.

Why Thanksgiving?

Because that's when Kent's spirit truly shined. 

Kent would stand up in church and announce that if anyone needed a place to go for Thanksgiving dinner, hit him up. If I'm remembering correctly, he would prepare a huge meal to be served on Friday. Even though it's been years since we were there at Thanksgiving, I don't see why he would stop his gracious tradition. I distinctly remember talking to him about it. Food's expensive--even more so now. He said in his humble way that he did it because he didn't want anyone missing out on a good meal, plus, I know he loved doing it. Perhaps no one got more out of his selfless act than he did.

I don't know the details of what happened, and in a way, they're not important. I don't need to know them to know what really matters...that a family man has passed on, a man whose example touched my life and the lives of so many people. I'm grateful to have known him, grateful to call him friend. Though the tree is gone, it's shadow will never fade. God's speed, Kent.

Recalling A Memory From Many Years Ago...

 Social media gets many well-deserved knocks. It can be mean, petty, abusive, slanderous, and at times a terrible place to visit.

Then again, it can bring back wonderful--although bittersweet--memories. This week, for me, it did just that. Back in 2015 I snapped a couple of pictures of Amber, a friend and co-worker. She was ecstatic because she filled in for one of her favorite things--the Hackenslash show. I took those pictures seven years ago today.

Six years ago Sunday, she posted the picture I took on my Facebook timeline. 

Amber passed away December 7 of last year. The memory that showed up this week on my timeline reminded me of the person she was, which brought back memories of her passing, the comments from friends and family at her funeral.

Amber was one of the first people I met after returning to work for Lagoon after an eleven year absence. Hackenslash was something she loved and I hope to always remember how happy she was being filling in. Even though you can't see her face in my photo, we both knew what it meant. Glad I was there to capture the moment. Glad it meant so much to her she reminded me of it a year later...

Glad social media has some good points, too.

Two And A Half Decades With One Employer...To The Day

 The e-mail from my boss's boss reminded me that today marks my work anniversary. I began working for my employer October 6th, 1997.

Twenty-five years.

With the same employer.

The e-mail thanked me for my service--it was a nice gesture,  sending the e-mail was not required or anything like that. That's what makes it nice. We also had a zoom call staff meeting with my team this morning. The first item on the agenda...acknowledging the same thing as was on the e-mail.

It's strange, passing a milestone like this. It's something you think about from time to time, something you recall when a co-worker or acquaintance asks how long you've been at the company. It's also rare for a person to remain so long with the same employer. Not like my father's days. 

On a day like today, you also think about all the people you worked with, some still there, others retired or moved on to other employers, some no longer with us on this earth. I remember taking buses and trains to and from the office, working in different locations with different co-workers and supervisors, never having an office but always parking my stuff in a cubicle (once having two people working in the same small cubicle...). I remember the deadlines, the new projects, the office politics, the head games, the joys, the frustrations, the same ol' same ol' and getting up and going back each week.

Work was once a different place for me. I had friends--good friends. We used to do things socially with them and their families. It was so long ago. For a year before covid, I worked at home, no daily interaction with co-workers other than electronic. I sometimes miss those days...I certainly miss those friends. We've gone our separate ways, one (at least that I know of...) has died.

Now that twenty-five has passed, twenty-five years to the day. Time to stop thinking about twenty-five and consider another number, a higher number, some date in the future. If things continue as they have for me for much of the past five years, I'll be getting up and going to work week after week until the day I won't. I'm grateful I've been able to keep the job(s) I've had. So far, all things considered, it's been a pretty good ride.