The gift of chocolate

I know...it's not Valentine's day yet...but I received the gift of chocolate today and for the first time in my life...I would have rather not gotten it...I run an apartment complex and today was my maintenance man's last day on the job...He's only worked for me for six months, but I was tore up when it came time for him to leave. We worked very well together and I had hoped that we would be working together for a very long time, but alas, he was offered a position that paid more and I couldn't compete...Just before it was time to leave, he handed me a gift bag...when I opened it, it was full of Hershey candy bars...Normally, this would make me very, very happy but today it made me cry...He seemed to always know when my day was stressful...I would come back from lunch or the post office and there would be a candy bar on my desk...

I have been interviewing maintenance men for the past 2 weeks and I keep comparing them to this wonderful man...which means, that I still have no replacement...I may need this bag of chocolate more then I want to admit...chocolate can't fix a dripping faucet or a clogged toilet, but it will help me while I am fixing the dripping faucet and the clogged toilet...

Isn't it funny how the same type of gifts can make you feel so different...getting chocolate to calm a stressful day makes me happy...getting chocolates to calm what is sure to be a stressful time until I get a new maintenance man makes me sad...

I guess all gifts can be like this...given for different reasons...causing such different reactions...all I know is, I would give my gift of chocolates back to have a good maintenance man show up on Monday morning...Hugs...