Sometimes life just smacks ya upside the head for no apparent reason.
Last year, post-Christmas, I wrote about a young man who committed suicide, leaving behind his wife and children, and parents that grieved at the funeral like I have never seen anyone grieve before. And its a fact that suicides peak around the Holidays, or so I recall. I just suicides, and the fact that the United States stigmatizes mental illness, and puts treatment out of reach for people who need it.
I think I told you earlier that outsourcing programming of my software product had allowed me to hire a marketing director. I hired him last August, and he's done well. Last Friday, we bid each other to "have a nice weekend," and promised to "see you on Monday." I hardly looked up as I waved, so intent was I on reading email.
Monday came around. As usual, I dropped the kids off at school and returned to the office. It was odd that he wasn't in yet, since he usually arrived about an hour before me.
Later that afternoon, I got word that he had died that morning, alone at home. I don't know what the cause was. Nothing he said or did indicated to me that he was unhealthy, or on the verge of killing himself. Perhaps it was a natural cause. I don't know, and I haven't received any answers.
The funeral is Friday. No one has called me (I learned about it from the newspaper today). I'm shocked, disappointed, angry, sad... How do I get the work computer back? Who do I give his pay check to? Who will come to claim his personal items in his office.
For now, his office door is shut. I'm sending flowers. Hope to learn more on Friday. True story.
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