And in other news of the bizarre...
So I cleared out for the cleaning woman today, figuring that two hours would be more than enough time for her to finish. I ended my errands and meanderings by picking up the things on my list to do marathon holiday goodie prep* and headed back upstairs to our apartment.
As I approached our door, I heard the maid talking kind of loudly on her phone and when I walked in and silently started putting away the groceries she said she had to get going and hung up. She apologized for not being done yet and said that the call had just been someone only now telling her that her brother had died that morning.
Jeez.
Me: "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry to hear that!"
Her: "Oh, that's okay."
Me: "Well, don't worry about anything here - you just go and take care of yourself. Did they say what happened? You didn't have to get off the phone for something like that!"
Her: "No, they hadn't gotten around to telling me that. That's alright though. I don't need to leave yet - I've only got the rest of the floor to polish."
Me: .................!?!?!?!?!?!? "Um... you really don't need to worry about the floor - it's totally fine..."
Her: "No, that's okay - I'll just finish up first. Sorry about all the fuss."
Me: .........!!!!?????!!!!!!????? "Uh.... okay...."
So then I proceeded to quietly pick up the cat and sort through emails while my bereaved cleaning person finished cleaning my floor. It was pretty effing uncomfortable and the floor was gleaming by the time she left and she even took a moment to recommend a product I might like to try but she wasn't sure if it was biodegradable/nontoxic or not.** She also took a moment to do a quick re-vacuum in a little spot she must have noticed.
I can totally see holding off on any emotional stuff while around a virtual stranger and while at work but, boy - that sure was something to not even kick off for the rest of the day. Who am I to say though. I don't really know her and I sure don't know her brother. One of the few things I do know about her is that she's the type who forges on and does what she needs to do. (Single mom of three kids who works two jobs)
Anyway - after that, got word that the wife in the couple who are among our best friends *finally* had their baby, all are well, and he turned out to be a boy. (They chose not to learn the gender ahead of time.) It's so strange to think of them as parents now and I think they're going to do a good job. He's a sweet little bundle and I can't wait to meet him in person.
Strange endings and warm, close beginnings. A full day of comings and goings and all will be held in our thoughts and hearts tonight.
* except for the peppermint extract - there was none left! Stupid Safeway. Plus it took me like five minutes to dig through the mess (no fewer than 10 different flavorings, all strewn about instead of lined up in their rows) on the shelf to finally decide that they didn't have any left - one bottle of regular mint (spearmint-y, maybe?), but I don't think that kind would have tasted right in the chocolate mint cookies I'm doing since they'll have crushed peppermints on top.
**I get all of our supplies b/c none of the services in the price range we can pay use green-friendly stuff but they're fine with using whatever we want if we buy it.