Happy Halloween!

Yesterday’s retirement party for M went SO WELL! Truly, I couldn’t have asked for it to have turned out any better. There was a good crowd in attendance – so many of the people he’s worked with over the years. I did think it was interesting . . . the supervisor he had for the past year, and with whom he did NOT get along, did not show up – which was not unexpected – but that guy allowed the friends M had on his team to come up and say hello for only a moment. Oh well.

There were funny stories told about M’s time while he worked there, which was fun, and a bunch of them chipped in and gave him a Phillies jersey with his name on the back and #28, for the 28 years he worked there. He was really touched by that.

One of my brothers asked me if M found it upsetting to be back at his work place, now that he wasn’t working there any longer. I could honestly tell him no – it didn’t upset M at all. The last year that he spent working there was so hard on him . . . working in an area that wasn’t what he trained all those years to do, working with a supervisor that clashed with him and then having all the challenges of his disease that made working so hard, in general. I think he was happy to get away from all of it.

Also, M had a chance to reconnect with some people that he worked with before his diagnosis – and I think some of those interactions might not have been as pleasant as they could have been. I remember him telling me about instances when “So-and-so was being a jerk today” or “so-and-so is impossible to work with” and at the time, I thought they were just having typical co-worker problems. As time has gone on, I’ve realized that M was probably either lashing out (because of his illness) or making mistakes in his work and his co-workers – not understanding what was going on with him, because we didn’t have a diagnosis yet – thought M was the one being a jerk. Yesterday gave him a chance to talk to those people and, even though M would never say anything about what happened in the past, I think they were able to put two and two together and see for themselves.

Afterward, two of my brothers, one of my sisters-in-law, my daughter-in-law and the three grandchildren, my parents and one of Matt’s brothers all came back to the house and we had cold cut sandwiches for dinner. It was another fun chance to visit and share some laughs. I broke out the ice cream treats I keep on hand for the grandkids after dinner and my brothers were THRILLED! I don’t think they’ve had fudgsicles and/or ice cream sandwiches in a long time.

I don’t know what my daughter-in-law saw or heard last night, but after she got home she sent me a text and said “I just want to tell you, you are amazing.” She said a bit more, but honestly – I was in tears! I’m just doing the best I can, but it’s really nice to have someone take a look at it and appreciate it.

If any of you were following the World Series – and I’m sad that baseball is over for another year – congratulations to the Washington Nationals! They had an amazing season and have won the World Series for the first time in franchise history. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in 103 days.