For Every Thing There is a Season

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

I learned this week that my friend Bob Webster is now in hospice care. Please take a moment and say a little prayer for him.

I met Bob when I first started working at West as a temporary employee, years and years ago. He has always had kind and encouraging words for me, as I struggled early on and then later when I joined his team in the federal group. I invited he and his partner, Mike, to my wedding, and he in turn invited me to a couple parties he hosted at his house. He was the first person at work I told that I was pregnant--it was the day he was hosting a wine party and I told him not to be offended if he noticed I wasn't drinking any.

Bob could be a curmudgeon, but more than anything he was passionate about theater, classic movies, politics, his Scottish heritage, his cats, restaurants, good food and wine, and the charities which were close to his heart. I learned that he's played the part of Professor Higgins in a local production of "My Fair Lady", which in my mind was perfect casting.

All of us at work who care about him are now bracing for the worst but still clinging to hope that somehow he might still pull through.

It has been a very sad week.