Whoa --- I think a former co-worker has shifted!!!!!!

I met Pat when I worked at the crappy little fundy family-owned tourist company that made their fortune ripping off international tourists and their employees. This was the company that quietly watched me drink oj mixed from their contaminated well, and silently watched me spend a month struggling with vomiting and diarrhea until another employee one day whispered in my ear that the well was contaminated, the company had been cited and fined by OSHA, one employee's digestion had never returned to normal, and they all drank the Poland Spring water that was kept upstairs near management's offices.

Pat worked in receivables; she told me on the q.t. that she was a witch. She was obese and miserable, difficult to be around even when I ran into her working a booth at the medieval fair that her club held down the street from me. She was filled with angry glee when her abusive husband died a miserable death from cancer. Even with our shared beliefs, she was rude to me so I tended to avoid her.

She stopped by my house yesterday. I did not recognize her at all. It's not just that she's lost 100 pounds or that her hair is now pure white. She's been through the mill a bit, she was laid off from that job and then they tried to claim she was fired, but they had mistakenly written in her dismissal letter that she was being let go due to downturn in business, so she got unemployment after all (and that crappy company got yet another black eye with the state).

Since then she has been in and out of work, getting laid off from one better-paying but crappy job after another. The last time she was laid off, she notified her mortgage company and tried to arrange half payments on her mortgage until she was working again. They tried to pull the foreclosure scam on her...and failed. She was able to get a decent lawyer.

And in the process of that workout, she discovered that she's entitled to widow's benefits along with her pension. Those 2 combined cover her mortgage, enabling her to live on a lot less.

And she found a job with wonderful management that pays a little over half what she used to make, and just a little over minimum wage. Her 2 12-hour and 2 8-hour "work" days are taking disabled people to appointments, to the beach, and to movies. A van provides the majority of the transportation -- she just helps them get in and out of the van.

She stopped by my house when she saw me in the garden...she's looking for housing for a friend and wanted to know if I was interested in a housemate. I was mildly interested, until she mentioned the one big downside; her friend smokes. I'm horribly sensitive to cigarette smoke to the point that if I inhale the slightest amount, I can end up puking my guts out and dry heaving when my gut is empty. Even the smell of smoke on a person leaves me headachy and nauseous. So housemate was out, which was really a relief, since I need my private space so desperately.

But back to Pat. The reason I didn't recognize her wasn't the weight loss or the white hair. It was her aura. She simply glowed. She is doing work that gives both ways, her housing is secure for the moment. Her envy of my house, barn and garage, and the spiteful comments that came with it, were gone. Like the rest, she's living month to month...but she was a totally different person.