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Memorial Meeting
Oct. 9th, 2008 07:59 amTuesday night our Membership Meeting, after some perfunctory business, turned into a memorial for our co-worker who killed himself last week. I've rarely been so proud of my workplace and my co-workers and especially ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
anarqueso who (lightly) facilitated it. I went to support my co-workers and friends who were having a hard time but left feeling like I had gotten a tremendous amount out of it. There was no rush, just 50 or so people telling stories that made people cry or laugh out loud. Tom had written a short goodbye letter to the co-op (Tom also wrote letters to other friends and family) which was read aloud. His last words to us were both heartening and awful. We (I assume all of us) took some solace in knowing that he took some of his last moments to reassure us that it wasn't our fault and to say he appreciated the community we've created. However, after those words were read, the realization sank in again: Tom was still dead, there would be no more funny Tom notes or inane pages that we could laugh at together.
Still, being together and sharing memories, and thereby reinforcing our own connections to each other, was so important that it's hard to put it into words.
anarqueso wrote up her account of the meeting which is poignant and more worth your reading time than this little short burst.
anarqueso who (lightly) facilitated it. I went to support my co-workers and friends who were having a hard time but left feeling like I had gotten a tremendous amount out of it. There was no rush, just 50 or so people telling stories that made people cry or laugh out loud. Tom had written a short goodbye letter to the co-op (Tom also wrote letters to other friends and family) which was read aloud. His last words to us were both heartening and awful. We (I assume all of us) took some solace in knowing that he took some of his last moments to reassure us that it wasn't our fault and to say he appreciated the community we've created. However, after those words were read, the realization sank in again: Tom was still dead, there would be no more funny Tom notes or inane pages that we could laugh at together.Still, being together and sharing memories, and thereby reinforcing our own connections to each other, was so important that it's hard to put it into words.
anarqueso wrote up her account of the meeting which is poignant and more worth your reading time than this little short burst.
