RIP Carrie, my dear friend :(

We all got to stay home today and enjoy a snow day. Except when poor M had to go out and snowblow. We got over a foot of snow last night and were so lucky today to be able to stay home and enjoy it without having to go anywhere. It's a rare day that the three of us get to stay in and not have to go anywhere for a whole day! I could have worked from home, but what's the fun in that? With such a huge amount of good packing snow, I wanted to stay with my girl, so we could have a fun day. I worked from home yesterday, as the roads were horrible! I started out, got to the interstate, and turned around and went back home. It was a productive, though not fun, day.
Tica very generously helped M eat his tofurkey sandwich after he came in from snowblowing. She's always there to help her family out, especially at the table.

It turned out to be a really good thing I had the day off, as I got a phone call shortly before 5:00 this morning that has just gutted me for the day. My beautiful, young, healthy friend Carrie died last night. It was sudden and unexpected. She felt unwell, went to the hospital, and was dead a few hours later. She left her beautiful young daughter, Caitlin, her soulmate Eric, and her beloved cat Cisco. Carrie was a a wonderful person. She was a student of mine, a good friend, a coworker, and a fellow IT professional. While I am feeling sick at the thought of never seeing Carrie again, I am absolutely heartbroken for Caitlin, Eric, and Cisco. She was such a great mom! She was a strong woman who made me proud to call her my friend. I'm now alternating between disbelief, crying, and ferocious anger.

There are two despicable human beings from Carrie's last place of employment who at least indirectly if not directly caused this. They unprofessionally tormented and stressed her beyond belief for a very long period of time. She moved on a few months ago, but the stress and emotional trauma those two assholes caused will not ever be forgotten. Steve and Brian will be held responsible for this. I blame them. She is not the first person they have done this to. Because I'm still very angry, I am going to take some time to think this through along with all the implications before I divulge their last names or place of employment. I would love to out them, but I'm learning to be a little less rash and take some thinking time when I'm extremely angry.

Luce is pretty sad, too. She really liked Carrie and feels horribly for Caitlin. This poor baby will not have her mommy here for xmas. It really is like a bad dream and I HATE that I can't fix it or do a damn thing to help.

L had fun in the snow today though. Last time M & I went to Target, we saw these snow-brick builders on and endcap. I pointed them out and mentioned how much fun my brother and I used to have with ours. I loved that thing and spent hours and hours making snow bricks and building forts. M decided L needed to have one, and I pointed out that we don't get that much snow at a time anymore and it was pretty unlikely she would be able to do much with it. It was going to be a xmas present, but he couldn't wait and gave it to her today. It was perfect snow for it--tons of great packing snow.

Our lilacs across the back privacy fence and several of our conifers are bowed/broken from the weight of the snow. The lilacs will be fine. They'll ultimately come back stronger than ever. The conifers probably won't fare so well. At least were were among the lucky who still have power. The weight of the snow downed many power lines, leaving people without any power. That would be horrible for us. The birds wouldn't survive very long. That is something that scares me a lot. If I had the money, I would get a generator to keep on hand just for that reason. But I don't, so I will just continue to worry.