Debbie's Retirement

 

So, it really happened, Debbie. You Retired. And, there's no hiding it: I'm a mess.

You know when something really, really terrible looms in your future, and dread comes with it, and yet when that actual time finally arrives, it was even WORSE than you imagined it? Maybe you don't, but that's how your Graduating away from Import Tractor Parts has profoundly impacted and affected me.

Yes, you have a Graduate Degree in tractor parts. Not merely Honourary; Hands on Practical:

Debbie Giberson, BP. (Bachelor of Parts).

I don't know what good it is, but there it is anyway.

The Time went so fast. Oh, so fast. And the day I dreaded so much just rocketed up on me like a jet-powered bomb and blew up all over me. I could hardly rasp out a word to you this final week of our working time together because the precious remaining Minutes were ticking by, eaten up by the clock in its relentless, insatiable, heartless manner. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock...

How can I be so sad for myself and so glad for you at the same time? What a mixed bag of emotions. This is probably the wrong time to be writing this because it is all so emotion driven.

All week and for a fair bit of time preceding it I kept praying, "Give me strength, Lord, please give me strength..." Facing this administratively top heavy mutated monster of an international venture without you is downright scary. You took care of all of that and left me free to what I do best. Well, the only thing I can actually do any good. I can't do what you do at all.

Ah, but never mind my broken hearted selfishness. That wouldn't be so if you weren't so you. Me dreading your Retirement is a compliment to who you really are and the profound effect you've had on my life. Sharon's too. She's almost as much a mess as I am and that's saying a lot. Reddened eyes and an exhausted look from several bouts of crying. She broke right down when we came home from your Retirement party with Colin and Dean and Wendy. Seeing her I did too. Between sobs she said, "She's been so much a part of our lives and now she won't be there!" It was like we just came home from a Funeral. From a joyous, celebratory party at the shop with friends to a miserable pity party at home by ourselves just like that. Another ride against our mutual will on the emotional roller coaster. We held each other close and tight until it subsided. She whispered into my shoulder when she caught her breath, "When do we stop crying?"

"I don't know." That was the most honest answer I could give her.

I want you to understand fully and clearly you bear no guilt in our sorrow whatsoever, only Honour.

"I'm so glad we have each other."

"So am I." I wouldn't want to face this alone. No way. She called Pastor Earl on Tuesday and had him call me because I was so torn up about it.

There I went and wallowed in it again.

Okay, that's enough of that! From now on it's the Bright Side of Things. From the side that SUCKS to the side that ROCKS!

Quite the preamble, huh? Yeah, I've got to work on that...

Debbie, this is my Heartfelt Tribute to You for all to see.

Oh my goodness, I am SO happy and excited for you! Deb! Every week will have SIX Saturdays and a Sunday for you now! You can sleep in, stay up late... whatever you want! If you decide you want a 3PM large coffee with two cream that would keep you up that night, who cares?! Have at it! You don't have to wait for a holiday or a vacation now - EVERY day is a holiday, and you can take a vacation from your holidays if you need one! Or a holiday from your vacation! Or a break from either one of them.

What an era in your life is waiting for you with open, outstretched, welcoming arms!

Buy the blingiest lures you can find for your upcomin' Fishin' Expeditions! Get the right fishin' shades and the right hat. Jerry Reed style is a good, timeless fishin' look. But you do you. Deck that big pontoon boat out too while you're at it. 'Deck'. Get it? I made a funny...

Yeah, go fishin', have cookouts (but invite us!), host your awesome dinners (but invite us again!) with no worry about the next day. Visit family (visit us!), or go up North. The four points of the compass are yours now with your Love. I hope you wear out 27 sets of all season tires exploring and revisiting. Have a BALL!

You've earned it, Debbie. You really have. Fair and Square.

There is so much to say, but you'd fall asleep reading it all like an atheist in a Presbyterian convention so I'll try to keep it short. Well, 'short' for the long winded essayist that is me, that is.

Truly one of the greatest things that came with Sharon was you and Colin as her long time valued friends. I guess two of the greatest things. I cherish the memory of the evening she first introduced you both to me. But there was no way I could have possibly known the incredible and amazing Blessing that I had just seen fleshed out and standing before me. No sirree. No possible way.

Then you came to work for me, first saving the business from the clutches of a disastrous, corporate red tape nightmare abyss, and then painstakingly molding it into its present day form. You honed and polished it into a well-oiled machine. I'm the only rust present in it.

It seems like only yesterday Colin and I were setting up your new office suite in the new building, and now, just like that, here we are. Time sure flies on fleet and swift wings, doesn't it?

I never knew what it was like to have two right hands until the Good Lord sent you to me. I'd go to reach for something at the packing station, and it was already in front of me because you just set it there. It was uncanny how you did that! I would look at you with an, "I should've known" rolling eyes look, and you'd look back with that mischievous smile and laugh of complete and total relaxed Mastery of the Task at Hand. You were always one step ahead of me. Always. The parts, the labels, the order sheet, the Thank You insert... whatever. Silently set in front of me for me to just set my hand on without hardly even looking.

"Did you see the order for Tex Grebblestruber from Darnhoundatemylunch Virgina?"

"It's done." Of course it is.

"Oh, did you...?"

"Yep. That's done too." You mind reading Model of Efficiency, you.

We sure did a lotta SFT's together, didn't we? For anyone else reading this, rest easy; SFT's aren't drugs. They're a wide series of tractor parts.

You have left your wonderful mark all over the business. It's just everywhere, and I'm so grateful for it.

You could read the mess of my desk like Braille and find something in a minute or two I just plain couldn't find, period. And it was my own desk! Your desk, of course, by embarrassing contrast, was always Perfect. Just Pristine, no matter what project you had been working on earlier. I've always been so proud of the way you kept your office suite. People would walk in the door and be obviously impressed by the impeccable way it appeared. Thankfully my muddled huddle was hidden out of sight around the corner. Unfortunately I was too far gone that way when you came along and you weren't able to rub off on me there.

The smooth fluidity in which we worked together was so seamless and natural there is nothing that can convince me otherwise than it was God Who put you there to help me in the mission He set before me. And, speaking of you and God, there are only a very scant few people in my life that I will humbly say are, "Proof that God loves me", but you most certainly, most definitely, most exemplary, are one of them. You have been an absolute, unquestionable, undeniable Blessing to me, in every meaning of the word and no stretch of it.

You spoiled me, Debbie. You just absolutely flat out spoiled me. You may have created an over-expectant monster for whoever has to try to step into your place. By the way, speaking of that, as I said to you that day in the office when I was so choked up I could hardly croak out the words, NO ONE can replace you in my eyes. NO ONE. You are absolutely Irreplaceable. You just set the Bar far too high out of reach with your Servant's Heart.

Your Christian Honesty, Integrity, Trustworthiness, Punctuality, Reliability, and just steadfast, absolutely and completely calm, cool, and collected, drama-free, unflappable Dedication is the Gold Standard I will be measuring anyone else by. I sincerely pity anyone for you having gone before them. When Colin said in church, "You're asking for a Miracle!" in response for me asking for Prayer to find someone like you, he wasn't kidding. Well, he was, but he wasn't. Our Abba, Father IS the God of Miracles! Maybe, for that tiny mustard seed of Faith in asking, our Heavenly Father will Bless me IMMENSELY again, but I certainly don't deserve it. I didn't deserve you in the first place, so I certainly don't deserve another even anything like you. BUT GOD... And ONLY God.

Sweet, sweet Debbie, without fail, your peaceful, balanced, Christian Grace-based Wisdom always shone through in a soft, 'love conquers all' Heavenly glow, and as clear as a bell every time I asked you for your thought on a human nature matter. I learned something every time. The Potter formed your clay inside and out with very careful and loving Hands so He did.

You know, you only get one chance to say something like this right. I have been writing and rewriting it, and almost endlessly editing it, and it still doesn't seem to really convey my feelings of lifelong indebtedness sincerely and emphatically enough. Hopefully the final feeble form it takes will shakily suffice.

When I said I was too far gone when you came along and you weren't able to rub off on me that way, I was only talking about your office organization and tidiness. I found some of your soft, gentle, patient nature did indeed rub off on me in time, and how could it not? I am not as rough around the edges as I used to be, and some of that, I truly believe, was God working on me through you. Oh, but I am so much richer for the experience!

Colin is one very, VERY Blessed, fortunate man indeed.

I am truly Honoured and humbled that you spent the last of your working years with me. What a Genuine Gift from God you were to me. I never took that lightly; no, not for an instant.

Colin, my friend and buddy and beloved, trusted Brother in the Lord: You generously loaned out far more of your precious time with Debbie to me than I ever deserved or had any right to expect, and THANK YOU. I hereby and formally, fully and cheerfully Release her from any and all business obligation to me. She's ALL YOURS now, buddy! This is YOUR TIME! This could very well be the BEST time of your entire lives. You're both FREE! Make every moment count. Spread your wings with her and FLY. Soar like eagles on the wind...

Debbie, you always used to hand me the broker run manifest as I dashed out the door to tear to Ottawa to meet them. You would say, "Have a good day!" This last time, knowing how I have been struggling with your departure, you wisely set it on the desk so I wouldn't have to take it from your hand for the last time, knowing how Final that would seem and feel, and you said, "Try to have a good day." I choked off some kind of thanks and was gone. Well, then I was back for a moment, having forgotten my keys, as usual.

Debbie, I'll be Okay. God has me in His everloving arms too. I will miss working with you at my side INTENSELY, but that's my problem. God will make a way where there is no other way. He still has a Plan for me. I will find that out in time, and I am looking forward to it. To God be the Glory in whatever it is!

Nobody ever loved their own sister more than I came to love you. You ARE my Sister. I cherish you, I appreciate you, and I so deeply Respect you. You have been an absolute GODSEND in my life and I will never, ever forget it.

I wish you All The Best possible, and am so happy and excited to see you enter into the comfortable and adventurous Retirement you have so justly earned.

Thank you for EVERYTHING.

NOW... take your Candle, go light the world...

Gratefully,

Danny