No Statue

Well, it was back at it yesterday. The wheelchair situation is under control, the awards ceremony is behind me, a full day awaited. We met for most of the day with a group up from PA who are interested in adopting Vita's model of Abuse Confrontation and goal of Abuse Elimination. We all spoke passionately such that hours passed with no break, only conversation, questions, answers, discussion and laughter. The time flew by and then we said our goodbyes and I headed for my desk.

I chatted with co-workers and then tried to tie up things the best that I could. I'm not back into the office for nearly 6 weeks as I'm lecturing this week throughout Southern Ontario then flying for the United Kingdom for a month of travel and lectures. It all seemed too much too fast.

And then I heard it.

A sound I love to hear.

The snack cart.

The woman pushing the cart looked in and saw me, she smiled and waved. I stopped doing what I was doing because, really, is there anything more important in the day than the snack cart. The woman is someone I've liked right since I first began working at Vita, she has one of those whiskey tenor voices that I enjoy just listening to. She always tries to sell me something new, she showed me some items and I told her that I wanted the usual. I picked up 3 packages of Dad's Oatmeal Cookies. They have a wonderful snap when you bite them and a lovely crunch when you chew them. They feel healthier than a chocolate bar, but aren't really. I always get one for Joe and one for me and one for the desk drawer.

So we chatted she and I about snacks as we dealt with change. The staff, wisely just stood in the background, even more wisely didn't try to hurry her along. I think he realized that we were both enjoying just chatting and spending a wee bit of time together. She knows I like her. I can feel that it matters to her that I care about her.

On her way out she said to her staff assistant, 'That's Dave. He's a good guy.'

Now that's an award that I can wrap both my head and my heart around.