He suffered so much in his 58 years. About 11 years ago he suffered kidney failure due to Wagner's Disease, an autoimmune disease, and he had a kidney transplant. Then not long after that, his first wife died of breast cancer. Then this past October, the kidney he received became cancerous and he had it removed, thus receiving dialysis nearly daily since then. During that time he also suffered from pneumonia and hyrnias. This stroke was the last straw.
I know Charlie's in heaven, especially from all the suffering he experienced her on earth, which makes me very happy. He really was so sweet, funny and a wonderful boss (the only one I've had).
I've made a list of the top 20 things I'll miss or remember most about Charlie.
1. How he hired me on the spot when I came in to meet him for the first time.
2. His laugh and ornery sense of humor.
3. How he let me photograph his wedding and asked me to stay for the reception.
4. How he called me Lisa Marie because he knew that wasn’t my middle name.
5. He liked to sit at my desk and talk about movies and music, even when he knew I was working.
6. How he was so understanding and compassionate when I had personal situations to deal with.
7. He liked to comment about the photos at my desk.
8. He was encouraging and positive even when critiquing my work.
9. He came to my 30th birthday party.
10. How he liked to take me to lunch once in awhile and always made me get dessert.
11. How he would stop by my desk and ask how I was feeling.
12. He gave me the old work camera when we went digital.
13. He had such a strong faith.
14. His laid back approach to our office.
15. His tangents.
16. How he made us talk about our favorite Christmas movies and songs every year at the Christmas outing.
17. His huge heart.
18. His computer illiteracy.
19. How he let me sit with him at the nursing home.
20. His acceptance of people.
His rosary is tonight and the funeral is tomorrow so it's going to be a rough couple of days, but we'll move on knowing he's no longer suffering. I'm just lucky I got to be his friend for nearly 9 years.
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteThis was terrific and almost everything you said was so true. I loved how he would always come to my desk and talk about such random things and before I knew it, nearly an hour had gone by! He was so easy to talk to and he really listened and cared about how we were feeling. He's going to be really, really missed. I wish I was able to know him longer than a year and a half.