brace yourselves.  this is a long post.  but i wouldn't type so much unless it was for good reason. 

i used to work with a very sweet woman named maria.  she used to come by the office everyday around 2:30 and take out all the trash.  about once a week, she would come in after taking the trash and ask if it was ok for her to vacuum.  she didn't want to disturb us so she always offered to come back later if we were on the phone or something.  she kept the restrooms very clean and since we've been at this office (almost 2.5 years), we never once ran out of toilet paper or paper towels.  she always did her job well and with a smile.  everytime she came into our office, she would say, "hello lady!" to me.  but lately, she would say, "hello beautiful lady!" cause i've been dressing more professional lately.  =P  she always asked how i was doing unless i was busy on the phone.  i talked to her many times but it was hard to get into very deep conversation since i don't speak spanish and her english was limited.  i invited her to church several times, boasting about our bilingual service.  but she was never interested.  she used to walk to work and back everyday but she didn't live too far.  she supported her 2 teenage kids on her modest salary since her husband was away.  rose, my boss, speaks spanish fluently so she used to talk to maria more in depth.  she would tell rose more details in spanish and then rose would tell me.  

"it's friday" maria said to me after a long week.

"yeah, thank God.  i'm tired.  i just want to go home."

"ok, you go home now." she told me with a smile.

i laughed, "ok, i'll just tell rose that you said it was ok."  =)

maria had a nice sense of humor.  but what i liked most about her was that she did her job with a smile while her job is probably one of the easiest jobs to complain about.  but she was faithful to come to work everyday and didn't complain about her low pay, lack of benefits and having to work on holidays.  it was a joy to see her and get to talk to her everyday at work.  she reminded me, without words, that i have no right to complain over the stupid things that i complain about.  maria was a blessing and a friend.

at the beginning of this year, maria started to lose weight.  she was a little overweight to begin with but not too much.  and within 2-3 months, she lost about 40 pounds.  we asked her if she was dieting or exercising.  no.  she told us she was not doing anything different and had no idea how she was losing the weight.  she assured us that she felt fine but everyone was concerned.  so, maria made an appointment to see a doctor.  not having insurance and having to go to the free hospital, she had to wait a while for the appointment.  they checked her out and told her they couldn't find anything wrong.  they offered no solution or reason for the mysterious weight loss.  so, she went on with her life.  but we were all still concerned, even though she kept assuring us that she felt fine.

on tuesday afternoon of last week, rose and i were talking about how odd it was that we hadn't seen maria all week.  we were hoping everything was fine and that she wasn't sick or anything.  then, wednesday, i went to the restroom at work and one of the stalls was out of toilet paper.  it was no big deal and i just went to the next stall but i got worried about maria.  i had given her a ride home a few times so i knew where she lived.  i contemplated stopping by after work to make sure she was ok.  i talked to rose a little bit and again, we hoped maria was ok.  less than an hour later, one of the maintenance men came by with a cute and petite hispanic woman and told us that she would be doing maria's job.  rose quickly asked "what happened to maria?!"  at this point, i jumped up from my desk to hear the answer.  "she died." the guy said frankly.  as rose gasped what sounded like enough air to pop her lungs, i thought, "that's a sick joke for him to tell."  he really said it quickly and without warning.  it just didn't sound real.  "are you serious?" i asked while ready to attack him for such a crappy joke.  but it was no joke.  he explained how she had gotten really sick so suddenly and actually had esophagus cancer all this time.  we were absolutely shocked.  we would never see maria's smile again and that was painful.  as rose got more details about what happened, i had to turn away.  the pain was welling up inside and i couldn't hold it in any longer.  i'm sad that i'll never hear her smile through her voice again.  i'll never see her while getting off the elevator and hear her say "hello lady!  how are you?" again.  i'll never see her walking across the parking lot between the buildings again.  i think about her 2 kids and hope they are coping well.  i really miss maria.  she was a blessing to me.

i wrote all this because i just want the world to know who maria was.  because if you didn't know her, you missed out on a lot.