Consumed with Work
A woman in her late twenties is with a very busy company devoted to success. It’s the job where you work extremely hard and you push yourself beyond that. She has moved up with the company and has never missed a day or has ever been late. She will plenty of times stay hours and hours late to get the job more complete. If her boss ever asked her to stay late or even later she never hesitated. This place wasn’t much of a family either. Everyone just seemed to mind their own business and just came there to get the job done. She had no kids and is single. She focused and excelled in school and got with this company since she graduated. She carried the term “work-a-holic.” Until one day…. Well really it took a few days to really hit her.
When she leaves work and on her way home is a small little park… nothing fancy minor playground equipment, a slide, something to climb on, and a few swings. The park always seemed empty no matter when she drove by… but one person… a teenage girl sitting on the swing. This was a little after five pm… The next day… there she was again, but it was eight pm… the next day… she was there again… the swing was just barely swaying… she was looking down… she looked like she almost had no life left inside her. The woman that just seems to only focus on work started to feel a tear coming down her cheek. Something just hit her hard… This girl is hurting so bad. What am I doing with my life? All I do is wake up go to work and come home spent and eat dinner and go to bed to just repeat. My days off I just work at home doing work that is already done. The next day… she decided to do something different.
She went to work as usual… Worked her hard as usual… but left on time, which doesn’t happen too often… She came up to the park again… the girl was there same spot, same lost sway… I park right on the street where she is at. She gets out… and walks towards the swing set.. The girl doesn’t even look up. She stays looking off into the ground. The lady sits down in the swing next to her. She looks over at the girl… “Hey.” The lady still doesn’t know what to really say… she just used to working… pretty much being a machine. “I see you here every day and I can no longer drive by without stopping.” She introduces herself and the girl still isn’t responding. “I know you don’t know me and sometimes I don’t think I even know who I am and what I’m doing here. But if you don’t mind… I want to just sit with you and be here..” The girl still doesn’t respond… just a feeling where if you brought a hundred roses they wild wilt away and become tears. The lady just felt so much emotion from this girl. Sometimes you don’t need to hear to know how someone feels. One hour passed… silence… Two hours passed… silence.. The lady just wanted to know what she could say, but thought maybe silence for tonight is all she needed to say. She only hopes that her time spent with this girl will be a start. The third hour passes… The girl says, “I’m going home now….” She gets up and starts to walk away. The lady still not sure what to say… But she says, “I will be here tomorrow.” The girl stops for a few seconds and continues to walk home. The lady sat there for another hour. She doesn’t even know what is happening with this girl, but it took her an hour just to handle the emotion she picked up. Something inside her just felt differently… maybe something started having a different beat. The lady went home had dinner and went to bed.
The next day she went to work and again left on time. The boss seemed to notice her leaving the same time as yesterday, but just looked back down into his paperwork. Again the girl was there in the same swing with the slow sway. The lady parked and walked to the swing next to the girl. She sat down and again said “Hey” The girl seemed to look up a little, but avoiding eye contact. The lady told the girl her name and the girl managed to say her name back. The lady then said, “If you don’t mind I would like to sit here with you. I know I may not understand or know what to do or say, but I’m going to be right here for you.” An hour passed and silence…. The second hour left as soon as the first… The third hour came up again… The girl said, “I should be getting home now.” The lady said, “Okay, be safe.” The girl again stopped and said, “Thanks…..” The lady said, “For what?” “For noticing me….” The girl managed to look back and let the lady get a glimpse from one of her eyes as it dropped a tear to the ground. The lady just looked to the sky… tears filled her eyes. She just thought to herself… maybe I’m here to not work work work… but maybe just simply care about someone I don’t know about. If I can make a difference in one person’s life… She got up… went home… at dinner then went to bed.
Day three… she goes to work… gets all done… leaves on time… The boss this time asks where she is going. She just responds, “I have something important to do today.” The boss didn’t ask any more questions. The lady parks in her usual spot and takes her usual swing. She looks up at the girl and says, “Hey, I hope you don’t mind, but I would like to sit here for a while.” The girl says, “I would like you to.” The lady gave a faint smile as the girl looked to her. The girl looked back to the ground… “Have you ever lost someone close to you?” “I never had anyone close to me. I just worked hard at school day and night. I went to college and did the same. I moved away from home and started working here. I would wake up go to work and work some more. You have lost someone haven’t you?” “My mom…….. Now I feel that I have no one….” “What about your dad?” “He sounds like you… his life is only work…. I’m not work related so I’m not in it. He works early and doesn’t come home until late at night.” The lady holding back her tears…. Sadness for the girl that has no one… self pity on herself because she never allowed anyone to be in her life and she just works it away…. “Well, you now have me.” The girl is now full of tears… The lady stands up and offers her arms… the girl gets up and accepts the hug. The lady says, “The old me is no more. Every day I will be here for you. I will be your support. I will catch your tears. We both now have someone.” The girl smiled, “I need to get home now… thank you..” The lady watched her walk off and went in her car… and sat for a few minutes… She’s never felt like this before… such power flowing through her… such a simple act to just care about someone, but so moving that she couldn’t even turn her car on… After a few minutes she was on her way home. Dinner then to bed… but not to sleep… She spent the next two hours thinking about this girl that lost her mom and has no one else. She feels like she now has a family even if it’s this girl that is around ten years younger than her. I make plenty of money and I want to be involved in this girl’s life. I want to always be the big sister that is always there. She closed her eyes with her ideas in mind and went to sleep.
Next day, in to work… kept busy and to herself… getting ready to leave on time again… But this time her boss stopped her… I need you to stay tonight and get this done… and it’s not an option. The lady stood up to him looked him in the eyes… “I can’t and I won’t. There is something more important than this work you want me to do. I’m sorry I will not stay. Even if you have a pink slip on my desk in the morning I will be proud to accept it. What I’m doing has much greater value than what I do here.” She turned and walked out the door… The boss was speechless… He just had to know what she was doing… He kept his distance, but he for once in his life left on time to. He followed the lady all the way to the park, but he kept out of sight… His eyes then became wide open… his jaw dropped a little… He say the lady go up to this teenage girl and give her a hug…. He was about speechless…. “My….. daughter……” …. “a small smile… haven’t seen that since….” He was out of any more words and did what he did best… went back to work….
The lady told the girl… “These swings are hurting my butt… lets go get some dinner and I will take you home. They went to a nice restaurant and ate a glorious meal. And they stayed for hours just talking. The girl talked about times she had with her mom and the lady told her all the times she had working so hard at school… like the time she had no paper left to write her essay and it was four am… She took one of her white sheets and cut it in paper size and finished her essay… “I got an A for that paper… I don’t think it was that good either, but maybe for creativity!” The drive to the girls house was just full of warmth… like the heater was on, but it wasn’t. Two women and their lives turned around in a few days. She dropped the girl off at home and said “See you tomorrow!”
The next day, she went to work expecting some type of punishment waiting her… but there was nothing… Even looking at the boss’s office he seemed to really keep to himself the whole day…
Weeks have passed and the two have grown to know each other well. Each day doing something different and some days just sitting back at the swings… but this time seeing who can swing the highest. Sadness turned to laughter. The lady said, “I know your pains will never go away, but let this greatness we both now share fill you up and help you on any sad day.”
This day is one that took many by surprise… The lady had a memo on her desk… it was from her boss… everyone seemed to be in shock… the boss that seemed to work from early morning to early night and probably in his sleep… wrote something no one ever expected… He was stepping down from his position… He was no longer wanting to be the boss… He wanted to be a regular coworker that can leave at the right time… He put in this memo… It has come to my attention that I have failed when I was needed most and I feel it will take a long time for me to win. I have lost two people in my life, but I only hope I can save one. As the lady finished reading and put the memo down… she looked up and saw her boss… He said, “I know understand. I know where you go after work…. That beautiful, wonderful girl you go to see…. She’s my daughter… and I’m sure she mentioned me… and I’m the failure…” The lady looked up, “You haven’t failed… you just lost track of what is most important. But it’s time to get back on track. Your little girl is happy, but still in so much pain. I can’t help her with that pain… only a pain you can help. Let me help you begin this process, but it will be your journey.”
The lady went to pick up the girl… They greeted with warm hugs… The lady said, “Tonight is going to be very different… It won’t be easy… but it’s time…” The girl began to have a worried sad look thinking it’s a goodbye…. But as that thought entered her head the lady said, “No… this is not a goodbye and you will never here that from me! But there is one matter that for tonight I can’t be a part of.” The girl looked up to see her father appear… The lady said, I will leave you two alone, but I will see you tomorrow. The girl in full tears not believing her eyes… The dad full of tears as well. “I’m sorry… I will never be able to say it enough. I haven’t been here for you in the time of greatest need… But I’m here to fix that… I gave up my position at work so I can be here for you. Someone stood up and told me she was not going to stay later any more because there was something more important than her job! I then found out it was someone… it was you… The lady is one of my coworkers… I followed her one day and saw her with you… I did not know what to feel… except failure… I went back to work… shut my door and cried… Each day I thought more and more… and finally said no more! What is most important to me isn’t her at my desk all the time… it’s home… it’s you forever. You are my family and that is the term I will be proud to carry…. The girl could not speak… tears only fell as she embraced her father knowing he’s a changed man… he’s her dad and he’s here to stay.
(It’s so easy to get caught up in your work. Too many people have the drive to just make more and more money… to only realize the more you make the more you spend and need to survive. You get a bigger house, which means higher taxes, bills, more stuff! What lifestyle is most important to you? Working nonstop? I believe in a hard work ethic, but I will have my limits. Or will you go to work to get the job done, but not be exhausted to take care of who matters most in your life. Your spouse? Your kids? Your family? Your friends? Heck just even a stranger that has that frown? You would give them up for yourself to just work your life away? Me? I would leave a job without second thoughts before giving up on anyone. I’m here to not work my life away.)
When she leaves work and on her way home is a small little park… nothing fancy minor playground equipment, a slide, something to climb on, and a few swings. The park always seemed empty no matter when she drove by… but one person… a teenage girl sitting on the swing. This was a little after five pm… The next day… there she was again, but it was eight pm… the next day… she was there again… the swing was just barely swaying… she was looking down… she looked like she almost had no life left inside her. The woman that just seems to only focus on work started to feel a tear coming down her cheek. Something just hit her hard… This girl is hurting so bad. What am I doing with my life? All I do is wake up go to work and come home spent and eat dinner and go to bed to just repeat. My days off I just work at home doing work that is already done. The next day… she decided to do something different.
She went to work as usual… Worked her hard as usual… but left on time, which doesn’t happen too often… She came up to the park again… the girl was there same spot, same lost sway… I park right on the street where she is at. She gets out… and walks towards the swing set.. The girl doesn’t even look up. She stays looking off into the ground. The lady sits down in the swing next to her. She looks over at the girl… “Hey.” The lady still doesn’t know what to really say… she just used to working… pretty much being a machine. “I see you here every day and I can no longer drive by without stopping.” She introduces herself and the girl still isn’t responding. “I know you don’t know me and sometimes I don’t think I even know who I am and what I’m doing here. But if you don’t mind… I want to just sit with you and be here..” The girl still doesn’t respond… just a feeling where if you brought a hundred roses they wild wilt away and become tears. The lady just felt so much emotion from this girl. Sometimes you don’t need to hear to know how someone feels. One hour passed… silence… Two hours passed… silence.. The lady just wanted to know what she could say, but thought maybe silence for tonight is all she needed to say. She only hopes that her time spent with this girl will be a start. The third hour passes… The girl says, “I’m going home now….” She gets up and starts to walk away. The lady still not sure what to say… But she says, “I will be here tomorrow.” The girl stops for a few seconds and continues to walk home. The lady sat there for another hour. She doesn’t even know what is happening with this girl, but it took her an hour just to handle the emotion she picked up. Something inside her just felt differently… maybe something started having a different beat. The lady went home had dinner and went to bed.
The next day she went to work and again left on time. The boss seemed to notice her leaving the same time as yesterday, but just looked back down into his paperwork. Again the girl was there in the same swing with the slow sway. The lady parked and walked to the swing next to the girl. She sat down and again said “Hey” The girl seemed to look up a little, but avoiding eye contact. The lady told the girl her name and the girl managed to say her name back. The lady then said, “If you don’t mind I would like to sit here with you. I know I may not understand or know what to do or say, but I’m going to be right here for you.” An hour passed and silence…. The second hour left as soon as the first… The third hour came up again… The girl said, “I should be getting home now.” The lady said, “Okay, be safe.” The girl again stopped and said, “Thanks…..” The lady said, “For what?” “For noticing me….” The girl managed to look back and let the lady get a glimpse from one of her eyes as it dropped a tear to the ground. The lady just looked to the sky… tears filled her eyes. She just thought to herself… maybe I’m here to not work work work… but maybe just simply care about someone I don’t know about. If I can make a difference in one person’s life… She got up… went home… at dinner then went to bed.
Day three… she goes to work… gets all done… leaves on time… The boss this time asks where she is going. She just responds, “I have something important to do today.” The boss didn’t ask any more questions. The lady parks in her usual spot and takes her usual swing. She looks up at the girl and says, “Hey, I hope you don’t mind, but I would like to sit here for a while.” The girl says, “I would like you to.” The lady gave a faint smile as the girl looked to her. The girl looked back to the ground… “Have you ever lost someone close to you?” “I never had anyone close to me. I just worked hard at school day and night. I went to college and did the same. I moved away from home and started working here. I would wake up go to work and work some more. You have lost someone haven’t you?” “My mom…….. Now I feel that I have no one….” “What about your dad?” “He sounds like you… his life is only work…. I’m not work related so I’m not in it. He works early and doesn’t come home until late at night.” The lady holding back her tears…. Sadness for the girl that has no one… self pity on herself because she never allowed anyone to be in her life and she just works it away…. “Well, you now have me.” The girl is now full of tears… The lady stands up and offers her arms… the girl gets up and accepts the hug. The lady says, “The old me is no more. Every day I will be here for you. I will be your support. I will catch your tears. We both now have someone.” The girl smiled, “I need to get home now… thank you..” The lady watched her walk off and went in her car… and sat for a few minutes… She’s never felt like this before… such power flowing through her… such a simple act to just care about someone, but so moving that she couldn’t even turn her car on… After a few minutes she was on her way home. Dinner then to bed… but not to sleep… She spent the next two hours thinking about this girl that lost her mom and has no one else. She feels like she now has a family even if it’s this girl that is around ten years younger than her. I make plenty of money and I want to be involved in this girl’s life. I want to always be the big sister that is always there. She closed her eyes with her ideas in mind and went to sleep.
Next day, in to work… kept busy and to herself… getting ready to leave on time again… But this time her boss stopped her… I need you to stay tonight and get this done… and it’s not an option. The lady stood up to him looked him in the eyes… “I can’t and I won’t. There is something more important than this work you want me to do. I’m sorry I will not stay. Even if you have a pink slip on my desk in the morning I will be proud to accept it. What I’m doing has much greater value than what I do here.” She turned and walked out the door… The boss was speechless… He just had to know what she was doing… He kept his distance, but he for once in his life left on time to. He followed the lady all the way to the park, but he kept out of sight… His eyes then became wide open… his jaw dropped a little… He say the lady go up to this teenage girl and give her a hug…. He was about speechless…. “My….. daughter……” …. “a small smile… haven’t seen that since….” He was out of any more words and did what he did best… went back to work….
The lady told the girl… “These swings are hurting my butt… lets go get some dinner and I will take you home. They went to a nice restaurant and ate a glorious meal. And they stayed for hours just talking. The girl talked about times she had with her mom and the lady told her all the times she had working so hard at school… like the time she had no paper left to write her essay and it was four am… She took one of her white sheets and cut it in paper size and finished her essay… “I got an A for that paper… I don’t think it was that good either, but maybe for creativity!” The drive to the girls house was just full of warmth… like the heater was on, but it wasn’t. Two women and their lives turned around in a few days. She dropped the girl off at home and said “See you tomorrow!”
The next day, she went to work expecting some type of punishment waiting her… but there was nothing… Even looking at the boss’s office he seemed to really keep to himself the whole day…
Weeks have passed and the two have grown to know each other well. Each day doing something different and some days just sitting back at the swings… but this time seeing who can swing the highest. Sadness turned to laughter. The lady said, “I know your pains will never go away, but let this greatness we both now share fill you up and help you on any sad day.”
This day is one that took many by surprise… The lady had a memo on her desk… it was from her boss… everyone seemed to be in shock… the boss that seemed to work from early morning to early night and probably in his sleep… wrote something no one ever expected… He was stepping down from his position… He was no longer wanting to be the boss… He wanted to be a regular coworker that can leave at the right time… He put in this memo… It has come to my attention that I have failed when I was needed most and I feel it will take a long time for me to win. I have lost two people in my life, but I only hope I can save one. As the lady finished reading and put the memo down… she looked up and saw her boss… He said, “I know understand. I know where you go after work…. That beautiful, wonderful girl you go to see…. She’s my daughter… and I’m sure she mentioned me… and I’m the failure…” The lady looked up, “You haven’t failed… you just lost track of what is most important. But it’s time to get back on track. Your little girl is happy, but still in so much pain. I can’t help her with that pain… only a pain you can help. Let me help you begin this process, but it will be your journey.”
The lady went to pick up the girl… They greeted with warm hugs… The lady said, “Tonight is going to be very different… It won’t be easy… but it’s time…” The girl began to have a worried sad look thinking it’s a goodbye…. But as that thought entered her head the lady said, “No… this is not a goodbye and you will never here that from me! But there is one matter that for tonight I can’t be a part of.” The girl looked up to see her father appear… The lady said, I will leave you two alone, but I will see you tomorrow. The girl in full tears not believing her eyes… The dad full of tears as well. “I’m sorry… I will never be able to say it enough. I haven’t been here for you in the time of greatest need… But I’m here to fix that… I gave up my position at work so I can be here for you. Someone stood up and told me she was not going to stay later any more because there was something more important than her job! I then found out it was someone… it was you… The lady is one of my coworkers… I followed her one day and saw her with you… I did not know what to feel… except failure… I went back to work… shut my door and cried… Each day I thought more and more… and finally said no more! What is most important to me isn’t her at my desk all the time… it’s home… it’s you forever. You are my family and that is the term I will be proud to carry…. The girl could not speak… tears only fell as she embraced her father knowing he’s a changed man… he’s her dad and he’s here to stay.
(It’s so easy to get caught up in your work. Too many people have the drive to just make more and more money… to only realize the more you make the more you spend and need to survive. You get a bigger house, which means higher taxes, bills, more stuff! What lifestyle is most important to you? Working nonstop? I believe in a hard work ethic, but I will have my limits. Or will you go to work to get the job done, but not be exhausted to take care of who matters most in your life. Your spouse? Your kids? Your family? Your friends? Heck just even a stranger that has that frown? You would give them up for yourself to just work your life away? Me? I would leave a job without second thoughts before giving up on anyone. I’m here to not work my life away.)
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