When work is too much...

A fellow supervisor who has recently experienced a tragedy can't tell you, she is probably still at work. A single Mom who has worked long hours trying to provide the best she can for her two boys, has worked 10, 12, even 16 hour shifts, and every weekend as long as I've known her. Probably the least paid, yet hardest working supervisor we have, our housekeeping overseer has remained a visible presence for all of the 12, moving on 13 years, I have been with this company. She started out as a housekeeper, and was promoted through her diligence nearly 18 years ago.
I've watched her children grow up, and ever dependent on their mom for advice and support, they have called daily to the point of annoyance to our desk clerks, they have visited often almost every day, as this seems to be the only place they can find their Mom. Even as this story unfolded, with the arrest of her youngest boy, who just turned 18, around 2 A.M. on a Tuesday morning, this workaholic Mom almost predictably came to work at 8 A.M., after a sleepless night.
Needless to say, she is stunned and in shock, but she knows work, and finds comfort in passing time there. She is easily brought to tears, and going through grief as much as anyone can without the finality of death. Afraid to go home, she stays with her brother, the child's father no where to be found, he is a product of the ravages of an addiction that is unknowing, and unconcerned. Knowing that her boy is in the hands of the law, and feeling the consequences of being black in America, she knows that the penal system is full of boys just like hers, and she is filled with fear, and sorrow. She says she has cried for the victims mother, and she has cried for her boy, who is only a child to her.
I don't know why I am relating this story, but feel I should.
They say this is in retaliation for another young man who's life was taken a little over one year ago, and street talk is there will be another, a brother for a brother, and so the fear. This is life in the trenches, sometimes it touches us, sometimes it touches our friends. Senseless, yet all too commonplace. I can't think of a person who is more undeserving of this, that their life is suddenly changed for the worst, but it makes me further understand a thought I have been having lately, that there are more important things than provisions, sometimes, we should be at home with our families,... work can wait.
You can read more on this story here: http://natchezdemocrat.com/news/2008/aug/13/man-murdered-roselawn/