Chance meeting.

Yesterday was busy. I had to run to the store and as it happened, I ran into my old boss that I hadn't seen for quite a while

For about 10 years or so I worked for a local Chiropractor in town. It was just the two of us in the little office. I did all the dictations for medical notes and did all the billing and coding for him before I ended up at the local medical clinic when I needed a change.

The change in him was pretty dramatic. His hair was now pure white as was his fancy little mustache, but it all stood out with his nice tan.

We stopped to talk and catch up. I asked how his long time partner was. Last I'd heard a couple of years ago, she was struggling with lung issues. Damn. He told me she died last year. Now he spend his winters  near his kids in Florida. 

They were great friends of mine and we lost touch after I quit his office, moved to the clinic and then moved on to become a security officer in another town. However, they took care of my aged Jack Russell when I had to drive Rich to his radiation treatments for 6 weeks in 2015. 

We talked about my hubby briefly then I wanted to say something positive and commented that he looked quite well.

He shook his head and said he wasn't really. He had a pacemaker as his heart was getting stiff as a old wooden board and he had prostate cancer. He said it is the slow growing type. He said he might take radiation treatment but no chemo. 

To his credit, he is a retired doctor and I did see him work miracles with so many people. He wasn't your typical Chiropractor. He often referred patients to their regular primary for more help. He was one of the good guys who didn't just ask people to come back over and over. He'd often tell the patient ...if you feel better, don't come back but call if you need me!

We've always remained friends but were out of touch. He and his partner had different social circles so we rarely ran into each other except once in a while at the Farmer's Market in town.

He seemed pretty sad about losing his gal friend of 30+ years and I knew how he felt. A bit lost. He was trying to decide what to do with his house in town and we discussed that also. We fell into an easy conversation just as we used to when working together.

Before we parted ways with our grocery carts, I put my cell phone in his contacts so if he needed to call or contact me for any reason he could.

When I got home I told Rich all about it and his reaction was like mine. "Oh Damn. She was one of the good ones. John is a good guy too, I sure hope he decides to spend his time with his kids and grands."

We sat quietly thinking about the times we had John and his gal out for mule rides and picnics, the celebrations we had together and the way we ended up getting out of touch.

I hope he thinks about giving us a call so we can invite him out to pet some mules since he was always fascinated with them. He is one of the good guys with a kind and generous heart.