We had an expected visitor at work today. Jack's back. I mentioned Jack briefly in one previous post of mine that I'm not going to bother to look up and link. He had his arms ripped off in a construction site incident earlier this summer. He was just released from the hospital this week so he can go home.
Today is the first day that I've seen him since before the incident. I worked with him on my last project up in Ft. McMurray; that was the last time I had seen him. He looks better now than he did then, which amazes me. As he came into the office, I got up to give him a hug. So he shoulder-checked me and I hugged him back. His attitude is completely amazing. He always was a very upbeat and positive man. And to have your arms ripped off just after you've retired would likely put most men in their mid-sixties into an emotional spiral that would lead to an early grave. Not Jack.
Today, he had a big smile on his face and was bragging about how he's down to 170 pounds and a 34 inch waist. He hasn't been in this kind of shape since he was 18, he was saying, with a deprecating laugh to follow.
His mood, and certainly mine too, are a far cry from when I recall going to the incident site the day after it happened and looking at the drilling rig with the bits of hair and flesh stuck to it, with a small pool of blood where Jack landed and had some of his clothes cut off.
Jack, you are one helluva man.
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