[Mid] (OT) Horrible week at work!

Sorry to burden everyone with this, but..........what a week at work this
has been:

1. One of our Division Heads at the Library was just diagnosed with terminal
cancer, and she is about my age (early 40's-ish) with two young children and
a husband who doesn't work.

2. Three people's mothers have died this week. One of the people who lost
her mother just donated a kidney to her ailing son a few weeks ago, so she
is recovering from surgery, and now her brother has required spinal surgery
of some sort on top of all her other troubles.

3. One of the people who lost his mother is a 55 year old co-worker of mine
who has never moved out of his mother's house, so he suddenly finds himself
having to learn to be on his own. We attended the viewing today at work, and
it was at a Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witnesses. We mourners came in
first, paid our respects to the deceased, and the family came in last after
the mourners were seated. The family was absolutely destroyed by the viewing
- screaming, crying, wailing..........I was quite afraid that someone would
either pass out or need to be sedated.

It was very hard having to witness such a display of profound grief. I
almost thought it would be more appropriate for the family to have said
their farewells and expressed their grief privately beforehand rather than
subject the rest of us to such an extreme display of emotion. I am still
reeling from this experience this evening and am quite afraid for this
co-worker of mine, as he appeared not to have eaten or slept in days and
wonder if he'll be able to survive all this without having a total nervous
breakdown. Other members of his family appeared not to be handling this too
well, either. I don't know the cause of death, but it sounded like it may
have been a heart attack in the wee hours of Sunday morning, so it was
rather sudden. It was hard for me to know what to say when I went up to hug
my co-worker. I just said, "We're here for you", as I could not think too
clearly, having just witnessed such extreme and profound grief.

Needless to say, it's been a really rough week. Sure hope next week is a
little better...................thanks for letting me share this with y'all,
and I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.................

YIS,
Lady Saradwen Ariandalen
Marche of Gwyntarian
(Akron/Kent, OH)

From: Sally Burnell <sburnell@raex.com>
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Received on Thu Dec 2 23:26:52 1999