People moving on

Friday was a unique day at my office, two retirees were honored at the same time as the staff gathered around the obligatory giant sheet cake as the honorees shared stories were from projects past and then expressed genuine appreciation of the people they'd worked with for so many years. Ralph, an engineer and Charlie, a project assistant both of whom for the last twelve years have occupied spots close by my own neck of the cube farm since we've been in our current location. Ralph as a very focused professional always enjoyed the give and take of office kidding around while maintaining a high level work. Charlie was very detailed orientated particular in regards to record keeping when tracking the progress of the projects he was involved with. In the present day and age of computers on everyone's desk and in spite of both being highly intelligent people they had to come to terms to develop a truce of sorts with the technology which our jobs revolved around that caused many moments of humor itself. As an example of "old school",a week before the retirement date I invited Ralph to Friday lunch with my cube neighbor Michelle and I to the nearby diner we frequent (Marcy's). He replied that if he did join us we couldn't pay for his meal as he could allow someone making less than himself to pay his way. I said however you'd like to do would be fine. Late Friday morning he checked in with me to see if going out for lunch was still on and of course I said it was. The three of us cut out a little before noon, had a great time, Ralph told a couple of stories of his life we hadn't heard about before, talked a little politics then as I had excused myself to go to the restroom he paid for all three meals telling us how much he appreciated the assistance we had provided to him over the years. Charlie had been out of the office on disability for well over a year before finally declaring retirement. For a number of years leading up to his departure he'd been struggling with the effects of illnesses from his younger years catching up with the aging process making mobility a problem so he spent the last 10 plus years before leaving utilizing an electric chair scooter around the office often adored with a pole for the visibility of staff as he motored about the aisles of cubicles and such. Between his health and some family issues his appearance began to show the signs of the wear and tear of such things and he took some vacation time and never came back to the office until Friday's event. He looked great, relaxed, good color as he greeted people he had missed and collected a few items from his cubical. I stopped by for a farewell chat with him and he thanked me for suggesting he acquire the scooter which he said made it possible to work for several more years than he might have given his physical condition. I'll be pretty surprised if Charlie stops into the office again, it's pretty rare seeing most of our retirees dropping by and I don't think it's Charlie's style. Ralph after taking a long travel vacation with his wife will be back on a part-time basis to help out on projects, always a worker even on his off-time.