Important Things

There was no single point that screamed, "WATCH OUT!" This week started out like most other weeks. Because the paths of our lives are never completely flat and smooth (who'd want that?), I really didn't notice that the grade was mostly downhill until it got steeper and I had trouble keeping my footing. Before I knew it the steep downhill grade had become a slippery slope and Friday morning found me going over the cliff. Dealing with personnel issues is a challenge, but Tuesday brought three very surprising and unusual, uh, people-problems. Sending an employee home with a cold (he works with food-condtact items), having a grown man leave in tears and finding a ride home for an hallucinating employee would tax the wits of anyone. Then, there are shipping issues. Do you deal with longhaul carriers? Enough said? Usually the brokers, dispatchers and drivers are salt-of-the-earth people willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. And at other times, well, l et's just say that by the end of the day we were all ill and LaRue wound up being the bad guy (gal). That was Wednesday. Have you noticed that when the ba*etric pressure starts dropping, all of us get a little anxious? When it actually starts to rain things get a little calmer, but by then some irreparable damage can be done with words that hurt. But what happened Friday morning made me realize that all the events leading up to Friday were absolutely nothing in the -grand scheme of things. Tony died Friday; he was 46 years old. It's hard to type in past tense when describing Tony, so I may slip up. Tony, Sandi & their two boys lived by Katey & Andy on Marquette and they quickly became a part of our family. When we had get-togethers, they were there. Sandi & Katey share a birthday so there were great parties. Tony razzed me unmercifully because I was a Rusty Wallace fan (NASCAR). I gave him grief because he was a Dale Earnhart fan. But we laughed and grinned all the while. When Katey & Andy moved, we didn't see them as much, but there is still a connection that bonds people for life that time, distance and absence can't break. So my heart hurts. It hurst for the 2 teenaged boys, other of Tony's family members, his friends and church family, Andy, Katey & others who loved him like a brother, and for myself who thought of him as another adopted son. Tony, I'll miss you, but I know you're keeping everyone laughing in heaven. Have you seen Earnhart yet? Y'all will have a ringside seat for Talladega, so enjoy the race and we'll see you someday! Love you, son!