rough weekend

[tinkerlion]

so saturday starts out pretty normal, i oversleep, rush to work, and have way too much to do. but then one of my people is running late to work, and cheryl's never late with out calling. i give her until just before the store opens and then leave a message on her cell phone. i continue to try her cell until about an hour and a half later. i only have a cell phone number because cheryl recently left her husband when she found him cheating on her. she really turned her life around, realized she didn't have to put up with a man who treated her bad and made her feel bad about herself. she started taking care of herself and actually paying attention to her diabetes. she took her son and was staying with her mom and step dad. with no other number to call i ended up calling betty, she works in my office and is cheryl's aunt. betty called the house and cheryl's step dad said that her jeep was there and they'd wake her up. an hour later i still hadn't seen or heard from cheryl and i tried to give her one last phone call before work got really busy.

unfortunately the next call i got was later that afternoon from betty to tell me they'd found cheryl dead in her bed. we're all shell shocked at work. cheryl should have been leaving for a cruise today to celebrate her divorce.

this morning i get a call from my boss as i'm driving to work. cheryl didn't die of natural causes and not by an accident either. some one came into her room when she was sleeping and shot her in the head.

i haven't quite been able to wrap my head around that last bit yet. the main suspects right now are her step dad, her ex, and her new boyfriend.

this fucking blows.

[sway2sway]

whoa, that is awful tink. tragic

[goodluckcharm]

thats is so sad to hear. i feel so bad for her son and i hope it wasn't his dad who did it. :( my thoughts go out to you and her family.

[Miss Shark]

Tink that's horrid. It's so hard when you lose anyone, but especially a young mother whos life was just taken.

In an offhand way it relates to my decision this week end to let go of my anger. I want to be true to myself, and the person that I am, no matter what other people around me are doing. Anger is nothing but destructive, and a cover up we use to mask pain. I wish your friend never had to be affected by anger, and her son and family not to mention you are and will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Here's a, sorry very lame but it's all I got, HUG for you.

[angischy]

this fucking blows.

OMG, it sure does. Murder is not a natural cause, really hard to understand or find peace in that. I'm so sorry, my friend. I've got big hugs for you, too, cheesiness be damned.

It sure puts all the things that have been bumming me out lately in perspective.

[angischy]

In an offhand way it relates to my decision this week end to let go of my anger. I want to be true to myself, and the person that I am, no matter what other people around me are doing. Anger is nothing but destructive, and a cover up we use to mask pain.


I couldn't agree more with that statement, Shark.
I wish you luck sticking to your decision. Emotions do their best to get ahold of us all. It's very hard to rise above a negative emotion and choose something more positive, but sometimes, it just has to be done in order to maintain a (relatively) happy outlook on life. Hugs for you, too.

[tinkerlion]

thanks guys. no cheesiness at all, the kind words help for sure. it's been difficult to be in the store, but we have a great group of people who have really pulled together. it makes a horrendous situation somewhat more bearable.

i've also been pleased with the response from my company. i was able to arrange for them to send a therapist to the store on thursday so we can have a group session and then have time for anyone who needs one on one counseling. we'll also be able to get a grant to help with some of the funeral costs.

i found out today that the ex-husband was ruled out. i think it's great for sterling's sake. losing his mother has got to be hard enough at 10, i can't imagine how he would deal if his father had done it. i do hope wayne is letting sterling spend some time with his older sisters as well. they seem to me like they would be the best to understand and help comfort him.


Anger is nothing but destructive, and a cover up we use to mask pain.

i couldn't agree with you more shark. i'm glad you were able to move past whatever was causing you that anger.

i'm just hoping we have some answers soon. apparently the police have a pretty good idea (cheryl has cops in the family, so there's plenty invested into the investigation.) i know we'll never really understand why this happened, but hopefully we can have information that will help facilitate closure.

now i'm just hoping to be able to move on from the horrendousness of the act. it's so cruel and brutal and so many things that i can't find a way to express.

[doubledown]

so sorry tinkerlion

buddy of mine killed himself a yr ago which sucked but didnt shock me 2 much since i knew dude so well but still murder trumps that all the way
shitty cards to be dealt
death is hard final unavoidable
but it should never happen young

lets all remember to live hard n good this week in memory of your friend
cheers girl hope u get throuhg this rough patch

[34redsox34]

thats so sad tink i will send lots of postive vibes your way

[Miss Shark]

Sterling is a really great name. It was hard enough for me to lose my mother to cancer as an adult, I can't even imagine how this will affect him.

Shame on me for thinking it was the ex, and thinking well he had it done then, when I know nothing about these people.

Tink, that is great what the company is doing, and even better that you thought to ask. If there's anything I can do.... You know you can call me anytime.

[tinkerlion]

shark, we thought it was the ex at first as well. just goes to show that you can't make a call like that based on emotion. then again there is no logic to killing someone i think.

today's my first day off since all this shit went down. it'll be nice to be able to process this some more with out the additional burden of running the store.

thanks again for reading and responding y'all. being able to talk this out has been the best way for me to deal.

[stricken]

Wha?? I've been away from you all for a week - I though sure I'd pop on over and you'd all be as I left you. Tink, I'm so sad for your loss. Truly.

[Miss Shark]

Thanks ladies!! http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s127/RebeccaLB/grouphugg.gif

[angischy]

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s127/RebeccaLB/grouphugg.gif
Group hug! :) Good one, Shark.

[sweet p]

so sad to hear, tink. my thoughts are with her son, family, you and your co-workers-it's so not fair...

[lietuvaite]

tink, what a surreal situation. how's everything going after the fact at work? any news on who or why? crazy

[tinkerlion]

work is returning to normal. i actually have been working at another store this week (only a 15 minute drive!) no real news. the gbi has talked to several of us, myself included. i don't know that they really have any idea at all who did it. i've been glad to be away from the speculation this week actually.

it'll be interesting next week because cheryl's younger daughter (22) was hired this week. i hope she enjoys working with us like her mother did.

[lietuvaite]

even crazier that the fbi is talking to you guys. do you know why they are involved?

[tinkerlion]

not fbi, gbi. georgia bureau of investigation. they have better resources to handle the investigation than dawson county does.

[the duke]

ah, so any news??? I've been away without internet for so long, I've missed all the news.

How are you going? I can imagine it'd be shocking as hell...

[lietuvaite]

not fbi, gbi. georgia bureau of investigation. they have better resources to handle the investigation than dawson county does.

oops, thought gbi was a typo. keep us posted

[tinkerlion]

still no news on the investigation. that really sucks for the family.


today was a day where i missed cheryl more. this is the night when we usually closed together. plus i started my period today, and we were actually on the same cycle. one of us would always bring midol so we could make it through the day.

[the duke]

that's so shit Tink. It's tough, but we're here for you chica. Take some midol and hope you feel better!! :)

[tinkerlion]

i'm sick of getting bad news. i was going to say on the weekend, but really i'm sick of it period!

yesterday my mother-in-law went to the doctor and the possible diagnosis she left with are 1 b-12 deficiency (but even the doctor said not likely,) 2 myelodysplasia (mds for short, aka pre-leukemia,) or 3 leukemia. more testing will be done tuesday and thursday to find out more. from what i've heard and read my guess is mds, but hope is being held out that it's none of the above.

[tinkerlion]

we found out today kathy (my mother-in-law) has acute leukemia. on monday she'll go into the hospital and stay for 4 weeks for treatment. unfortunately right now we have way more questions than answers. cancer isn't a stranger to this family (kathy's had breast cancer and colon, her little sister died of breast cancer, and her older sister beat breast cancer and is now fighting lung caner,) but it's still bad news to get. eric is handling it well, right now our focus is to gain as much knowledge as we can. any thoughts or prayers (if ya do that) would really be appreciated right now.

[sway2sway]

sorry tink.

[ragmop]

i am so sorry to hear the news. please tell eric that many prayers and thoughts will be with kathy and his family.

[jtq_99]

positive vibes for you and your loved ones.


+++++++++

[maestro]

Dear tikerlion, my feelings are with you and the ladies family. I don't even know you but this has hit me pretty hard Ive never experienced anything like this i was shocked when i heard what happened, i see this on t.v. but to here about it for real on this website has freaked me out as this stuff happens very rarely in oz. It makes me gratefull for what i have and i realise now that my family problems may not be as bad as i thought. Miss shark is so very correct about anger as well, it solves nothing it just escalates the problem, iknow this from experience. anyway i will say a prayer for you and all concerned tonight especially the son and i hope they find the lowlife who did it.
Try to cheer up and hope you feel better as soon as possible.xxxooo

Peace and love from downunder.

[lietuvaite]

tink, i'm thinking about you, eric, and your family. hang in there

[Miss Shark]

Boy oh boy tink you've sure had one hell of a year. Kisses, love, hugs, thoughts, prayers you've got it all coming your guys way.

[stricken]

Tink~ How's things today. How was your day?

[tinkerlion]

tuesday brought us more answers. kathy has aml (http://www.webmd.com/cancer/tc/leukemia-topic-overview). it's most likely caused by the 6 weeks of radiation she had for breast cancer 22 years ago. she started chemo last night and will have it for 5 days. the doctors hope this will kill the chemo cells and regular white blood cells will start to regrow. if not then it'll be another round of chemo or a bone marrow transplant. we were able to see kathy for a few hours yesterday. it's amazing how relieved you can be to just know something, everyone was in a better frame of mind having some answers. by the end of the week kathy will have lost her hair, and she has requested a clown wig for mother's day:D. gotta love a family like this one. thanks so much for your thoughts and comments everyone.

[lietuvaite]

One of my students, an eigth grade girl, has been absent for the last few weeks. At first doctors didn't know what was wrong with her, but now it turns out her diagnosis is exactly the same as your mother-in-law's (acute myeloid leukemia). She started a 30 day round of chemo last week and just met with someone to make her a wig.

Tink, you're still in my thoughts.

[Miss Shark]

My Aunt-in-law has it as well. She has been in and out of the hospital with complications from having to have dialysis. I'm not real clear with what happened to her kidneys or how it relates to the leukemia. I've just got snippets via email and voice mail. I hope to get my mother-in-law in person today.

I think you are right tink, it is easier when you know what you are up against. That makes it so much easier to form a plan of attack!