My friend Toni retired yesterday.
She was a research professor working at Harborview. From what I can tell by her resume, she was
the leader of the team that advised the powers that be in Olympia (governor,
legislature, top bureaucrats) on how to best allocate drug rehab funding in the
State of Washington. [She said that was
not quite correct, but it makes for a nice simple story.]
Lea and I were at Harborview so she could get tested for carpal
tunnel. I left a vmail for Toni before
the test letting her know we would like to visit her after the test if we
could. After the test, I called again
and we arranged to meet outside on a warm day by the ER for a minute before Toni
had to go to a retirement lunch with her coworkers.
I told Toni of my conclusions about her job based on Goolging her name
and reading her resume online last week after another friend mentioned in a
tongue-in-cheek way that Toni is famous.
I don’t know if Toni is famous, but she did get the first ten hits on
Google being about her.
I pointed out that if she was the leader of said rehab funding advisory
team, then Lea’s recovery via methadone was the ultimate end product of a long
and distinguished career. At that point,
Toni and Lea were hugging each other crying tears of joy. It was a special moment on a big day in Toni’s
life.
Last night, Toni emailed me letting us know how important it was to her
that we stopped by to say “hi” on her last day.
That was a bright spot on an otherwise tough day for her.
I am grateful for my friends, for my now being a much better friend to
them, and for being able to share our joy & gratitude with each other.
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