Sometimes things in life are hard to explain...for example, why should I benefit from someone's tragedy?
Many of you know already I have the opportunity to potentially get promoted (okay, the likelihood is about 90%, but still...). Anyways, the lady that will be retiring will actually be leaving sooner than her initially anticipated date (end of September). She has bumped her retirement date to the end of August now, due to a series of unfortunate events...
Firstly, her husband fell ill, 11 shifts before he was to retire from the Edmonton Fire Department...she got a call at work and the call indicated her hubby had collapsed at the hall and that as soon as they knew which hospital the EMS would be taking him to, they would call her back so that she could meet him at the hospital. Physically he is doing okay (apparently his nerves are not quite settled yet as he shakes quite often), but more than anything my coworker thinks her husband suffered a mental breakdown. Soooo close to retirement and this happens...YIKES.
Then this past week, her father passed away in the nursing home that she just move him into the week prior. She had indicated to me that her father had given up living as he was not responsive to her nor was he eating well (he was so weak that he couldn't even suck through a straw). So this past weekend, all her siblings were able to gather together to have a memorial service for her father...nonetheless, she showed up to work on Tuesday and kept on plugging away at her files. It saddens me as I don't think her father was a Christian man...
In preparation for her retirement, she had listed her home for sale. Due to the passing of her father, she was not able to meet with her realtor to go through the offers...and seeing as how her appointment with the realtor was scheduled for last Tuesday (the day of the passing of her father), I don't know that those offers that were submitted are valid anymore...plus her and her husband were going to go to Kamloops this past weekend to check out the construction and progress of their new home, but needless to say, this didn't happen either.
Lastly, another close friend of hers lost her battle with cancer on Monday. This (if memory serves) is the 5th funeral she will be attending for the year 2006.
I guess I feel guilty that I will likely somehow figure into this equation and out of all this happening to her, I will benefit from her misfortune. It's too bad the company couldn't send her off happily into retirement rather than letting her go due to personal, tragic recent events in her life...
3 comments:
Wow. That is so unfortunate for that lady! Sometimes it makes me think that people should retire earlier, when they're still physically able to enjoy their retirement. Otherwise, what is the purpose of all of that work and all that saving?
You shouldn't feel guilty about meriting a promotion, though! That's a totally separate issue from this woman's situation. As well, sometimes it is from one negative that a positive can be born - like w/our grandparents, who can't move into the Chinese seniors' lodge until someone kicks the bucket.
That's just life, my dear.
Well, you definitely deserved the promotion, so congratulations on that! That's definitely an unusual set of circumstances and while it's too bad it couldn't have been happier, I presume everything works out in that way for a reason.
Keep updating and I might be able to move you off of that "once a year" list! ;)
Ouch!
We'll keep praying for your co-worker. By God's grace, hopefully she will experience God's awesome powers in all this.
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