He Gets It

The nicest thing happened to me at work last week. I was pretty sure I’d end up being the last one out the door. After a roll of paper is made, I do the quality testing. So when my crew shuts down their machine, my job begins. No sense in them sticking around I suppose.

I had just finished up, and turned around to pick my bag up from my desk. Sitting on the desk, was this “revamped” album cover. Not only the cover, but the actual album was inside. (If only I had a record player) These are all pictures that were taken at work through the years. Our company put out a newsletter periodically, and included pictures for certain events, including promotions. I can’t even say for sure how old I was in these. I think the first picture must have been taken when I was approximately 22. (oh how innocent I was back then) That 2nd picture – it was a perm experiment gone awry. I had to have been around 27 or so at that time because I got a perm, thinking that with the 2 little ones running around, it’d be easier for me to keep up with. What a mistake that was. Plus, I know I wasn’t “highlighting” my hair during that period of my life either. The 3rd picture was sometime around ’93.
Getting back to the album . . . .

It was dropped off without me even knowing it. At first sight, I laughed out loud, opened the lab door and peeked out to see if Mr. Anonymous was waiting somewhere outside for my reaction. No such luck.

What a wonderfully unexpected surprise this was. Oh yeah, and even if he didn’t stick around I know who did it. His name is Bill. As I looked at it more, and thought about him doing something like that for me, tears came to my eyes . . . . . but I was still smiling of course. I can’t even describe how I was feeling at that moment. It is really one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me.

A few times in this diary I’ve made entries about this desire I have to make people feel special. Not any particular person. Just people. We are all human, and we all deserve to be made to feel important, needed, loved . . . . . special. Never expecting or anticipating anything in return, it’s so very cool when someone does take the time to repay a kindness.

About a year ago, Bill’s son was going through a bad time. He stays in a nursing home because he has this rare disease which produces . . . literally hundreds of tumors throughout his body, including his brain. This last brain surgery was hard on him. I asked Bill if he thought during the long recovery period after surgery, his son might like to use my portable DVD player and I’d throw in a bunch of movies that I thought he might like. Bill said he very much enjoyed it. And then there was Bill’s 60th birthday, which was unfortunately spent at work. When I found out it was his 60th, I got to thinking of something small I could do that might help make his day a little nicer. I made him a sponge cake, right there at work! Took a sponge, about 6×8 or so, (just something you’d use to clean with) and poked holes in it, and used q-tips for fake candles. Put it on a paper plate and fixed up a little birthday card to go along with it. He loved it! I think that this album was just his way of thanking me, and you know what? It so worked! I’m still smiling. It doesn’t even matter that those are some of the crappiest pictures of me I’ve ever seen. He gets it. And that’s what matters.

p.s. . . . have I ever mentioned that my middle name is Lee? **smiles**