12/30/15 RMB Gentle Presence

12/30/15 RMB Gentle Presence

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

She told me to watch the movie Learning to Drive. And I will. And when I do, I will remember her. She was a colleague with a gentle presence, a true professional with a sense of humor that was sharp and witty.

We go about our days, our work, looking into each day with the expectation of some semblance of what transpired the day before. Schedules are kept. Programs run their course. We move forward unaware of our own shortsightedness, until the unexpected transpires.

When a family member calls and informs you that the person who sat beside you, who shared an occasional evening stroll or trip to the theater, will not be there…ever again. Time stops. The mind races backwards to catch a glimpse of the face you remember, to hear the last conversation, her laughter, and to see that smile, the one that will not be greeting you again in this lifetime.

The call came this afternoon. Dian Hughes, the accounting dynamo who appeared quarter after quarter, year after year to run our numbers, to dot and cross our numerical i’s and t’s will not be coming this quarter. She has passed on to the next leg of her journey.

She was too young, too alive, too wise, to leave so early. She will be missed. We were blessed by her grace and kindness. It is ours still, her gift to us. And she is with us even now, in a new light from a new plateau, and as kind as ever.

Remembering her smile,

Loraine