So yesterday another of my very dear friend passed.  A week ago I found out my boss.  And yesterday I found out the lady who manned the front desk of my office passed.  She was old and in poor health but still it greatly saddens me.  She was 87 years old. 

She fell in March and went into a rehab facility.  She was also so kind to me and my girls.   In fact in May during of our lunches I was telling her about our car being "totalled" and she offered to sell me her car.  She sold it to me for $1000. In fact i mentioned it on the blog about the car.  It was a 2011 red Subaru Impreza with 31k miles.  It was in terrible body shape but excellent condition.  She said she was so happy it was going to keep my DK1 safe.  It was the perfect first car with excellent safety features, top of the category of compact cars.   So we made a deal and she was thrilled it wasn't going to the junkyard and instead driven by a family who would love it.  She had such a kick when I would pick her up for lunch in it and visited her in it all fixed up.

In July she had a stroke and that really was the beginning of the end.  She did manage to go home but with a feeding tube.  And I did manage to visit her in October and she was still cognizant if bedridden.  She told me she was looking forward to her two boxes of thin mints and couldn't wait to see my holiday card.  And then when i've tried to visit the person in charge said she was too busy or too tired. 

I had hoped to stop by and drop her holiday card as I always did before the break and drop off a box of chocolates.  But instead I got an email she had passed early yesterday.

All I can say is I really need 2024 to end.

2024 has been a crazy year.  So much has happened.  And more to come.  So yesterday I found out that my old boss died a week ago.  He was 57 years old and I thought in good helth.  He died of a heart attack 12/4 at home alone.  He was single and lived alone and his work partner went and found him on Thursday.  He was a wonderful guy and super great to work for. I stayed longer than I needed because he was so good to me.  He let me bring in the kids and they played  in the break area.  He was so nice to me about leaving in an emergency. I cannot say enough about what a good person he was. 

He left the company about 2 year before I did and went to start his own business.  He encouraged me to leave and go on my own.  He came to see my place and we had lunch usually in the summer or after the busy season and I always sent him holiday card so he could see the kids growing.  He's know the kids since they were 3 and 5 (they are 12 and 14 now). 

His work partner called me today to try and recruit me to take over his business and work full time. I said no.  I said I would more than willingly take on some of their clients, and I would be willing to help in the short term.  But I'm not in a position, even though I have a super small clientele and only started 3 years ago to absorb his workload.  I was honest and told him I'm not looking for full time work, even with a very lucrative income.  My boss this summer  showed up at my house in a new $100k trucks so I knew he was doing well.

I told him that I'm pretty happy where I'm at but I will help him clean up and finish any clients that were left hanging.  I feel like my boss deserves that much.  After all if he went to other established businesses and he admitted he did think about that, he knew they wouldn't want to be taking on that much.  Most established firms/small companies typically have a maximum and certainly weren't looking to fully takeover someone's entire client list.

He asked me if I was scared now that my boss passed about the future being so quick. I said absolutely.  I said that it makes me even more certain I did not want to work like my boss so hard.  He worked super hard and I think that definitely contributed to this early demise.  He worked 7 days a week and his life was his job.  The partner said it was making him rethink his work ethic as well if it was worth it.

I am going to guess I might be unexpectedly growing my business more than I predicted this next year. I'm on the fence as I write this as to if I want too.