the corner office

Tuesday was a day I don't ever want to have to go through again.

Mo passed away around 9am in the morning, after they switched off the life support systems. Apparently, his heart held out for 30 minutes, before he slipped away.

At 3 we had Cliff's funeral. Cliff was by no means a religious man, and his friends were by and large not a religious lot, so needless to say the Alberton Methodist Church had a rather diverse lot of people, so much so that the reverend actually commented (to some's surprise) on the diversity of faiths and non-faiths at the church. Either way, Cliff's dad gave a touching eulogy. Sad - I learned things about Cliff I never knew while he was alive. Amanda read a tribute sent from a friend of Cliff's who's overseas - oddly enough a woman who was my stats lecturer at Wits 12 years ago. Outside the church, Matthew whipped out a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label and everyone sent Cliff off with a swig. He'd have liked that.

And then to Mo's funeral.

A painful evening is the only way I can describe it. I thought that a lot of people came to Safiyya's funeral, Mo's was unbelievable. There must have easily been 500 people. Perhaps the fact that it was at night helped, but regardless, it was an incredible testament to how well-liked and loved he was. I didn't see Mo (apart from when they lowered his shrouded body into the grave) - he was laid out inside the house for viewing, but R and R (two of Mo's closest friends) asked us not to go in. Apparently he didn't look good at all, and they asked us to rather remember him as we knew him. Some part of me wanted to see him, but I figured that ultimately it wouldn't make much difference.

I was a lot closer to the grave this time. Hearing the men putting the planks in place is a sound I'll never forget.

Coming into the office today had an air of finality, and emptiness. We had a staff meeting this afternoon, which was pretty sad, but I think we needed to reassure everyone about the business, and to keep everybody focused. The offices will never be the same... today myself and a colleague were trying to follow up on an account, and we looked at our Contacts database, and there were comments posted by both Mo and Safiyya relating to the customer, and I felt a twinge. I spoke to P this evening, and we're faced with the horrible admin issues, like tracking down Mo's laptop, like moving his and Safiyya's IDs to the "No Access" group. It feels wrong, it feels surreal. Most people say they don't have the heart to remove Mo's number from their cell phones or address books. Life has to go on, but it doesn't make it any easier right now.