Disturbing News Today

I know this is going to be kind of a weird post. We picked up our new Subaru B9 Tribeca at our dealership Friday. The car is great. The kids have lots of room and are excited to be able to watch movies in the car. The hubby is having too much fun with the navigation system.

To get the new car we traded in my perfectly good Outback. At the beginning of the summer I began to have some problems with the Outback. I had it in to the dealership several times for a week or so at a time. They were having trouble replicating the problem and asked if I could come in and take the mechanic for a drive and see if I could get the car to replicate the problem since they couldn't. The mechanic was really nice and we talked casually while I drove him all over Northern Virginia in my car. He talked about surviving a bout with cancer and he talked about his kids. Finally we talked more about my car and determined a possible solution to the problem. I took him back to the dealership and thanked him for his attention to my car. It was nice talking to him. I did what he told me to do and the problem was resolved. A week later he called me on the phone to make sure the car was still running fine--it was.

Today as I was driving my swell new car I got a warning message on the navigation screen. I couldn't find a solution in the manual so I called the service department. My service guy, which I got to know pretty well during the problems with the Outback, didn't know the answer, so I happened to sort of jokingly ask if he thought my trusty mechanic might be able to answer the question. It was then that he said the mechanic was no longer there. I said you're kidding...he was great. The service guy said yes that he was great, but that he had died. He committed suicide two weeks ago. I only spent an hour or so with him, but feel sad about the news of his death.

Suicide makes you wonder if there is something, some sort of signal that you missed. Something that you should have noticed to make you help the person. I talked with the service guy about this. He agreed. He said that the mechanic had his good days and bad days like everyone does. He said that there were no indicators to make them think hmm...we need to keep an eye on him. They were just as shocked to hear the news.

My thoughts and prayers are with his family even though I didn't really know him.