Today was my first day of vacation. I did soem programmign work from home.. but spent the rest of the day getting readd y for the kids visit.
Diane and I took a quick hike up Catamount trail. We had our spikes on.. so we got off the road as soon as we could. We walked alone the river on the old overgrown logging road, then came down the saem way. It was a beautiful morning
Later on, Lauren and gizzo came over for dinner. It was nice to catch up with them. THey’ve had a very hard and busy couple of months. Kaurens brother Jeff. died suddenly about 6 weeks. ago. Jeff lived in Hamburg Germany with his family.. he was a percussionist. He’d come kayak camping with us onec.. and I’d hung out with him several times since. He’was a great guy.. super funny and kind. Lauren and Giz went over to Germany as soon as they heard.. THen Lauren went back for Jeff’s celibration of life..
then 9 days later, Laren’s mother’s partner Elisa died suddenly as well. elisa and Laurens mom had been together for more than 30 years. It was a shock to everyone.. especially so soon after Jeff’s passing.
In the middle of all that. Gizzos youngest daughter got married in Florida.. WHich was great,
It was good hanging out with our freinds and hearign about the lows and highs. Life is such a mystery soemtimes.. no maybe all the time.
Busy day at work.. getting ready for the end of the year. I went out for lunch to meet my friend Ryan. His fiancee Maria passed away suddenly on september 11th due to an asthma attack (see here ). Maria worked at Beta as one of our HR members. I didn’t know her well.. but the interactiosn I had with her were great. she helped me write my job description as a consulting mad scientist. she was so fun and smart. I ran into Ryan last week and could see how much he was hurting. Today we met for lunch at the barnyard just to talk. I got to learn a lot more about Maria. Ryan and Maria had been together for 8 years. They we’re going to be married about this time next year. She was a dead head and was up for anything.. freindly, smart loving.. and tons of fun.
it was good gettign to hear Ryan talk about her.. and about how he and Maria’s family are doing. It’s hard to know what to say to someone this close to loss. .. .. We talked about dealing with other peoples reaction when grieving.. and about how physically exhausting it is to grieve. I could tell that Ryan was glad to be able to talk about Maria.. and what his life is like now. it was heartbreaking.. and at the same time good talking.. Please keep Ryan. Maria and their families in your thoguhts
