TheBanyanTree: Reality Life

[Maria Gibson]

There is so much real life going on where I work.

What do you say to your supervisor when she is standing before you
talking about having to go back to the hospital and pull the plug on her
sister?  Her sister woke up with a sore throat yesterday, she and her
hsuband, and they went to the ER for throat cultures.  Yeah, some folks
go the the ER as if it's a clinic and this family does but it was
probably a good thing they did.  Not because she was able to be saved
when she had an aneurism right there in the ER but because they were
able to save enough of her long enough for the family to gather and say
goodbye.  The mom and dad that live a 17 hour's away drove as if bats
out of hell and made it in the very early morning.  The sister's five
young children of course live right here and they wondered if mommy was
going to die.  Being young and inexperienced they asked over and over
without realizing social decorum says you don't speak of death so
openly.  They will have way too much experience with it from now on than
anyone ever dreamed just a few days ago.  It seemed a hug was not
enough.

Then there's our accounts payable department...I say department, she's
one gal, really, but she does so much for us that it seems she is a team
unto her own.  Not only is she keeper of the paychecks, she organizes
our monthly birthday luncheons and our weekly Friday morning
breakfasts.  She remembers everyone's birthdays and gives out McDonald's
happy meal toys when she sees a job well done and, I tell ya, it feels
like winning the lottery to get that little toy.  Currently I have a
mini motorcycle guy and a Goofy key chain and I couldn't be happier
about having them given to me by the person I think of as our 'moral
officer.'  Our moral officer is also, incidentally and usually of no
consequence, an amputee from age 18.  Her right leg from about 4 inches
below the knee was removed, I believe due to cancer.  Not a big deal by
any means and it has been the source of some real amusement in the
office.  Sue tells some pretty funny tales about incidences she's had
and one of the funniest I've ever heard was one beach trip when she
brought three different legs with her and her roomie for the weekend was
unaware of all the extra appendages in the room until the middle of the
night when said roomie got up to go to the bathroom.   The best part is
that when folks first start to work there, it is usually months before
they realize Sue has an articficial limb.  It has come as quite the blow
that, since a very unfortunate fall with no one at fault other than an
artificial limb that sometimes lags a mili second, Sue will probably
never be in that good of shape again.  Her residual limb cannot support
a prosthetic limb of any type for probably a year and when she gets one
it will be strapped from hip to calf versus the much shorter one she had
before the fall.  For now she has to get about on crutches and a wheel
chair.  She does quite an amazing job of doing just that.

Shelly was not an easy sell at first.  I saw right away that she was a
royal hysterical scream but it took awhile for everyone to see it.
She's a slow funny, a worm her way under your skin without your
knowledge funny.  She is extremely quick and sharp and we have formed a
very comfortable relationship.  I was a bit taken aback when she said I
remind her of her mom.  I'm not used ot that, in fact it's never
happened before but it also felt kind of honoring.  I don't mean to
fling out nuggets of wisdom or anything but it seems I had made some
good points and made an impact on her.  Shelly started to tell me some
of the things going on in her young life: _just_ enough money to make
it, no extras.  Two young kids in daycare 10 hours a day, five days a
week so they can make it.  The only program they were willing to accept
was help with daycare expenses, which cost her 850.00 a month, but the
program had been suspended due to lack of money, so they went on a
waiting list.  Then she got pregnant.  And the insurance from his job
was changed.  Suddenly everything was a deductible expense which now
included umpteen appointments for her pregnancy.  Not to mention  two
young children at home who very often have to go to the doctor, it's the
nature of the beasts.  We were talking one day and she said she was
sorry, she didn't mean to depress me.  I said, good grief, it's real
life, Shelly!  These are the situations and times that we live in and I
have been there wondering where money would come from.  I let her know
it wasn't depressing, that we were hashing it out.  There were so many
issues shewasn't sure how to handle, such as with three car seats there
wasn't room in either car for the whole family but another, bigger car
was out of the question because of finances.  They need her income and 6
weeks out of work was going to devestate the cash flow but a new baby
needs her mom at least for a short time.  So many things.  She told me
her husband had gone out of town and had to go the  ER, actual emergency
not a sore throat, and had tons of proceedures.  Got the insurance
stuff...out of network deductible, 1700.00 bill.  I looked skyward and
said to God, because if she hadn't maybe she should, hey!  Enough is
enough, if you give us only what we can handle, we're here!  Yeah, we
were kind of laughing and letting off some stress that way but I was
serious.  I'm going to miss her terribly.  Her husband took a job in the
town he was in when he got sick.  I had no idea he was a minister.  Been
working together and talking for nearly a year, had no clue.  He was
teaching in a Christian school, I knew that, they are very devout, I
knew that.  I didn't know he had graduated seminary and had been
teaching as a stop gap while he waited to learn what God wanted from
him.

More reality life stories to come.....
Maria