one of the most disturbing and saddening coincidences at work today. was calling a customer who had a life insurance policy that he bought for his son back when he was 5 yrs old, to offer him an option on his policy to increase his coverage for his son. a family member picked up and i gave him my name and reason for calling. customer couldn't talk right now, family just found out yesterday their son died, committed suicide, at school on the east coast. that really dropped me for a sec, couldn't talk at all for a moment and i just mumbled out "OMG...i'm so sorry." customer heard the conversation and decided to pick up the phone and we talked for a bit, he was surprised to hear from us and wondered why we called. i explained about his policy on his son...and that really surprised him, he thought they gave up that policy already or they had planned to do so. they didn't even know it still existed and i happened to call 1 day after they found out their son passed away. i really didn't know what to say, we talked for a bit, he explained his son has been dealing with depression for years really, and in a way, the whole family wasn't exactly surprised it happened, though they had all wished it never came down to it. he really shared with me for a bit, honesty and sadness coming in clearly over the phone, about his son, how they tried to help, how he was supposed to come home soon. all i could think through it all...geez, parents should never have to bury their kids, it's just wrong. i offered him our office condolences and anything i could do to help, like three times i offered, he just had to call. we soon got off the phone after that.

it was my first time taking a life claim call in that way, it caught me completely off guard. the kid was 22 years old. geez...22 years old! i'm still a bit off right now. i mean, what are the chances of me making THAT call at THAT time. my boss went to go visit them with some flowers. he's known their family for like over 17 years since they became customers, so he wanted to be there with them and just let them know we're there for them for real, and not just be saying it. i'm pretty sure i've met the son once or twice myself when he first got licensed. really, i tell ya, never can tell some times unless you really pay attention, his dad even said his friends at school even said the days leading up, they all thought he was doing fine, but i guess it just takes one little thing to set you off, if you've been struggling with it. gosh, don't know this is leading guys, just had to share. thanks for the time.

Honestly...I never gave swine flu/H1N1 much thought...but you know, I think I'm actually a bit concerned now that I know several friends of friends/customers who've come down with it. Not to mention all the pro-Athletes and celebrities coming down with it...could it be the end of the world? A real pandemic!? Can I go crazy and over-react now? Because if I over-react later, it might be too late...too late for us all. okay...well, may be I'll actually go and get that flu vaccine instead of skipping it like I originally planned. That is, if they haven't already run out of doses.

This guy pulled a Bilbo...turned eleventy one years old.