I ran into George today. We use to work together. It has been 13 years now but I still run into him - at the grocery store or the auto body shop and George and I catch up. Except for these little impromptu get togethers, the last time I actually saw George was at his 15 year old daughter's funeral. A car accident that just left a trail of sorrow.
He carries the hope of Jesus with him. I have told him, I can not imagine being in his shoes and he just shrugs his shoulders. He always has a smile and today was no exception except he was dealing with a loss that was worse than losing his daughter. His words, worse than losing his daughter. He just got back from Romania where he held his 90 year old mother's hand as she left this life. Even as he told the Story, you could see that the inevitably of losing his mom never quite became a reality until it did. He was the one who made a beautiful coffin that he used as a coffee table until his MIL needed it. It was a joke yet and when he told the Story, his eyes would twinkle. I heard it many times and it always brought a smile. The reality was another of our co workers lost his teenage daughter in a car accident before George lost his girl and he offered the coffin to him.
Even from another culture, the lines of who is and who isn't family are pretty dim. I saved George from being fired once and he could never thank me enough. He took home a pressure cooker for some kind of experiment, a dumb thing to do but I talked the Powers That Be down and demanded they look elsewhere for somebody to fire.
Families come in all different shapes and sizes, you have to look out for your own.
Today's conversation with him gave me cause to stop and think. I can't imagine having the death of my 90 year old mother being tougher than losing a 15 year old daughter. I don't know if that is a man/George/none of the above thing. The only comfort I could give was was to remind him of his hope. The twinkle came back in his eyes, and we parted ways. I will see him again, I always do but if I don't in this life - the hope we share will bring us together again Someday...
