Prayer Shawls…And Other Reach Outs from Colleagues (Monday/Tuesday, August 20/21, 2012)

n an early June blog, I talked about the power of faith and how heartwarming it was to hear of all the people who were lighting candles, visiting shrines, sending holy water, organizing rosary groups on my behalf. It clearly has been working. Last month I talked about the wonderful quilt I received from a former Nypro colleague. I had the great joy of seeing both those attributes come together again last week. On the same day, I received prayer shawls from two different sources, both Nypro connections. A good friend and former colleague that I have always admired greatly, Jim Goodman asked his sister (Linda Heilig) who started a prayer shawl group at her local North Carolina church, to knit one for me. And what she sent us was absolutely beautiful. And then I went into Nypro and another prayer shawl had been dropped off by a 30 year Nypro employee, Hector Rodriguez, having been knitted by his wife, Ada, who had previously worked at Nypro for 20 years. I was extremely touched and gratified by both shawls and also to learn more about the prayer shawl network that exists across our country. What a powerful and caring network this provides. (Pictures of both shawls being worn by Connie and Nell are shown below).

Then I came into work yesterday and Bill Muldoon, our joint venture partner in our toolmaking operation, dropped off a huge banner that had been prepared by the Nypro Cape Cod retirees. This is a group of former Nypro people that have a reunion every summer on the Cape and I was staggered to see such an impressive banner, signed by everyone and delivered. Nypro has always been an extended family and all these gestures only serve to reinforce that. Lastly we had an invite from Jim and Paula Buonomo for dinner on Tuesday. Jim has been another long term colleague and friend. And he has a wonderful wife in Paula. They both are faithful blog readers and besides wanting to spend some time together (Picture of both of them attached) Paula was ready to throw her hat in the ring on the food blog sweepstakes. We had a wonderful dinner and evening, enjoying the setting of their backyard (with pool) on a beautiful summer night, great conversation and excellent food. Dinner ranged from grilled rib eye steaks with herb butter, to a tomato and cheese tart (that was to die for), grilled marinated shrimp, corn salad and an excellent blueberry and peach pie (See picture) We had a wonderful time and it capped off a series of reminders of how great the whole Nypro family is.