Sunday

A week ago Sunday (June 20th) was a hard day at work. Not only was the temperature in the grill about a hundred degrees, turning McDonald's into an oven by which all its employees were to be cooked; and not only was it one of the busiest days we've had this summer-but that morning a shockwave hit this corporate oven with ripples that reverberated throughout the entire community.

At around seven in the morning, the manager on duty received a call. There had been a car accident...and one of our employees had been killed. Pause. I had never seen this manager so distraught. A chorus of "oh my God's" rang through the building along with "I don't know what to do," and "she was so young..."

I didn't necessarily know this employee very well. I did work with her almost every day though, so the thought that she's gone and she is never coming back, that I just saw her on Thursday and now on Sunday she's dead made me very upset. What I have noticed in the week following the accident is how this small community of the Lyndonville area has banded together over this tragedy. During my time at high school there were two student deaths. I have noticed the same residual effect with this tragedy. Everyone at one time, even people who may not like each other in this tiny place, can be filled with the same type of understanding and love. Everyone in this area talks about the accident. The place where it occurred has now become almost sacred...

So there I was in this over of overflowing emotion. My actor's gift/curse of absorbing other's emotions took over. On my break I sat with Pete in the McDonald's parking lot and cried. It wasn't the first, and it probably won't be the last time I'll cry in my uniform.

The thing is...everyone else was crying too.

Peace out.