I just made the understatement of the year. It's horrible news really.
One of our managers at work has passed away.
I think I called everyone I could on Thurs/Fri when I heard the news, so it's safe to post -- I won't shock anyone, (man those were hard calls to make !)
It started off with a headache. Around inventory time, which we all attributed to just being inventory. He was off the day after, and then he called in sick on Friday with that sinus cold going around, but he came in anyway. On Saturday morning, his roommate found him on the floor of his bathroom unconcious. He called 911, and was taken to the U of A, where they were monitoring his blood pressure, and specifically his brain pressure because his brain had swelled and caused an anuerism. Apparently, it's quite common for an anuerism to happen to men of his age.
Everytime they went to take him off life support to do a cat scan, his brain pressure would spike again. They were finally able to determine his brain function was minimal, and his family made the decision on Thursday afternoon to honor his wishes to be an organ donor, and to remove him from life support after that.
Jim, our store manager, and Jamie one of our Assistant store managers, went to the hospital to say goodbye, as did many of our associates. It's hard to lose someone at that age (he would have turned 28 on the 10th), let alone someone as popular as he was.
Have you figured out who it is yet? It's Brad. Fun loving-eager for anything-way too friggin young - Brad. My best memory of him will always be his cell phone message. In his best immigrant accent his voice would come on and say "Housekeeping. Leave message." The first time I heard it, I laughed sooooo hard. He was also a font of useless trivia knowledge like me. We were always trying to outdo each other in music trivia. If there was an 80's song out there he DIDN'T know -- I'd be very surprised. There was hockey games in the parking lot at the store, paintball for one of our manager team building exercises (that I took pictures of ..) and lots of other things he will be remembered for.
God has definitely called one of his favorites home early.
I'm just trying to be a listening post for everyone. We have a lot of young people at our store, and for them this is their first taste of what its like to lose someone close to you. We brought in a grief counselor for people to talk to, and she's definitely been a help to all of us. Once I know what arrangements have been made for the funeral I will update again.
Hug the ones you love, and tell them you love them. Life is short. So to you my friends, let me say I love and appreciate you for who you are, and what you bring to my life. I am truly blessed in my family and friends. :-)
