You Can Be Mad at Your Family or even have a disagreement, but when someone else comes at them you are the first to defend them. . .

Back in the summer of 2012 Rick was called in at work for his annual review and was given a raise and he felt really good about how things were going.  There are always areas to improve, but he really enjoyed where he worked and felt that he could be there for a long time.  Then in September he was called into the office and was told that he was being let go or "fired", however anyone wanted to look at it.  It came as a HUGE shock to him.  He had been out sick the week before for a few days with pneumonia and had done his best from home and being so sick, but was aware there had been some problems.  Sometimes things are completely out of your control like serious illnesses.  
       

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He was given two weeks so that was helpful to give us a little bit of time to figure things out for our next step in life, but not much time.  He went into the office daily and each day was more and more uncomfortable.  Fewer people talked to him, his replacement had been promoted to Rick's job so that was moving in motion and then he wasn't included in meetings and each day was harder and harder.  In fact, I would say emotionally hard, because these were people he cared about and he loved his job.  On the last day no one was around.  No one really said anything to him, he went to turn in his computer and no one really knew what to tell him to do with it, the accountant handed him his check and he was gone.  No one said good bye.  The bottom line was he could only say "Good riddance" after the long 2 weeks and how things had been handled.  In fact, we were happier to have him done with that job because of how hard the last 2 weeks had been and so much didn't make sense. 
Over time things have calmed down and he has had a little contact with some of the employees that have gone through the same thing he went through, but generally he has moved on and kept his distance.  Then on Friday he started seeing posts and all kinds of things going on with the company he had worked for.  He started chatting some of them and realized all of these people were being put in a REALLY difficult situation.  All of a sudden, the hurt feelings from when he left were gone and he wanted to stand up for his friends.  It really came to light that Rick was in the better spot leaving a few months ago.  I commented to Rick that I was surprised how he had changed how he was feeling and he said, "It's like family.  You can be mad at them or even be hurt, but when it comes down to it they are family and when someone hurts them you are going to stand up for them." 
I am grateful that these people are his friends and he feels like they are family.  Sometimes, the things that hurt the most or are the hardest are because you really do care and it is just hard.  People are a very important part of our lives and it's things like this that give that "wake up call."