rekkidblogga

Some sad news

When I chatted with Carrie early last week in the downstairs cafeteria at work, it was one of those quick little conversations that you have with a co-worker who you like but never see much. Her group used to sit next to mine, then they were moved down two floors to the other main newsroom and we sort of lost touch. And then a couple of years ago, she'd taken time off to have her first child, returned for a spell, then again taken a sabbatical from being one of our most excellent reporters to have another baby.

We laughed a bit about how much fun it would be to get the old eighth floor gang back together, mesh the old Special Projects crew (her bunch) with my ajc.com/sports group and watch major sports figures squirm and sweat whenever she or Ann, Jane or any of the other "girls" sweetly cooed "Well, hel-LO there Mister [Major Sports Figure Under The Gun Here]... Got a minute to talk about that [trip, cash envelope, mistress, etc.] we hear you're associated with?" Hee. Man, it was fun overhearing just their end of those phone conversations. You did NOT want to be on the other end.

Anytime I see an email in my at-work box titled "Some sad news" I know we've lost someone in our AJC family or in our extended family. Carrie's husband died in a single-car accident Sunday. He was only 46 and had recently been battling cancer when their second child was born. I'd never met him but I'd heard her joke about them taking a plane trip back from St. Maarten once. "Yeah, that was fun," she'd laughed. "Two super-tall people stuck on a plane for six hours."

I'm a person who has faith in God. I believe that there are reasons for everything, even the most painful happenings in our lives. Somehow, there is even a reason for this, too. I don't understand what it could be. But right now, my heart hurts for this kind, funny, sweet lady who, when I asked her just last week how her kids were doing, smiled the biggest smile, laughed her infectious laugh and said "They. Are. Craaaaaaaazy."

posted by rekkidbraka @ 5:32 PM