Wise Colleagues

When I speak of high work ethics, integrity and skill sets there are many other colleagues who have my admiration and respect.  Deborah is another one of those friendships that have grown from our mutual work experience and has become a solid relationship outside of work.

We first met when I transferred out of Projects and into Operations.  I landed on the same floor only a few offices from Deb.  We had mutual work relations due to our bosses’ portfolios and it wasn’t long before I saw her dedication and professionalism.  She kindly invited me to join her fold of lunch girls, one of whom I worked closely with, Palo.  So Deb, Palo, Natalya and I would occasionally have lunch or coffee together.  Slowly our friendship developed since we were both busy ladies and socializing had to take a back seat for many a long day.

As things evolved another good colleague organized a hiking trip to Canmore and we had so much fun that we decided to do it again the following year.  Then the unimaginable happened.  Deborah’s beloved husband passed away in a terrible accident the day before our hike and Deb had to call me to let me know the sad news so that I could pass on the information to the other ladies.  Such a terrible way to discover how much Deb and I cared about each other.  Deb and her husband Randal had been to my 60^th birthday party and Randal was someone that Mom connected with in a remarkable way.  Mom is rather conservative and doesn’t give out friendship easily but for some reason she very much connected with Randal so she was as devastated by his passing as I was.

It was very shortly after this that I retired and it is incredible to say but Deborah’s and my friendship has grown stronger since my retirement.  She is the glue that brings so many of our colleagues together for potluck BBQs at her place.  Deb and I talked often on the phone and her travels to my home were numerous even before my illness.  She retired a little later than I but we are both loving our freedom. 

Deb has a wonderful, dry sense of humour and she also has a sweet daughter who I have come to enjoy also.  And she has a little grandchild that I am longing to see out here on the farm with the chickens.  It will be something else, I am guessing.