Changes

I've been in business for more than 15 years now and a large part of that time I've had Sharks who work with me. And it's such a cross-section of women (it's almost always been women and it's been entirely women for the last decade or so) with such different lives and I get to see and hear about all sorts of things that in a way become part of my life. To wit:

A Shark I only just started working with turned back two files because her marriage just ended this morning. I feel so bad for her, esp. since she thinks that this means I won't work with her again. Of course, I don't work like that, plus I need all the help I can get, I'm not going to cut her loose unless her work really suffers.

One Shark's son has had some very scary medical problems over the last 9 months and they're still dragging him around to different doctors, including the Mayo Clinic (which is relatively nearby) to try to find out what is causing them.

Another Shark, who hardly works with me anymore, but is a good friend who's "lending" me her husband for a few days to help with my mother, has two grandkids with cystic fibrosis. One of them is waiting to get on the waiting list for a new set of lungs.

Another Shark is in Indonesia, where her husband is stationed with the State Dept., except lately he's been going to Kabul for extended periods.

Another Shark had a life-threatening illness last year involving several days' stay in a hospital.

And, of course, one Shark just lost her life due to breast cancer about a month ago. I still find it both hard to believe and terribly upsetting. Can't really think about it without crying a little bit.

There's always something else. Some of it is good--babies being born, fun trips taken. I guess this is a way of saying that I've got this incredible window on life just from my Sharks and I want to find a way of letting them know that I appreciate them, not just for the work they do, but for their friendship and that window.