I last saw her a couple years ago, when she was approaching eighty and I was approaching sixty. It’s hard to imagine, since we were in each other’s lives on a daily basis when I was just over thirty. The adage about time flying is certainly true.
Trudy was my boss for nine years when I worked in the public relations department of Condell Memorial Hospital in Libertyville, IL. And, believe me, she was the right boss in the right place at the right time for me. I will always thank her for that.
Trudy and her husband, Bill, raised six children long before she and I became co-workers. By the time I came to work at Condell, her youngest was in high school; while my two sons were just learning about elementary school. What I remember most is that whenever my children needed me, she understood. If one son had a fever and had to be picked up at school, she didn’t bat an eyelash.
“Go,” she said. “We’ll handle it later.” And she always did. That was way back when, but today we remembered it all.
This morning, I drove to Libertyville where Trudy lives in an independent living facility. We had lunch, and then we went to the hospital that defined our relationship years ago. The same person who was president when we worked there is president now, although he plans to retire next year. We got a tour of the facility, although most of the people who were important to us have long retired. Nevertheless, it was most exciting to connect with our past and to see what the future holds for Condell.
It made me realize how important personal connections are. Maybe they are only on the business level, which is where Trudy’s and my relationship started; but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you keep connected, because that is how you learn how things that you were involved in, but didn’t get a chance to finish, turned out.
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