A few weeks ago I got the terrible news that my colleague and friend Jim had suffered a stroke. He is the sales rep with whom I've worked most closely and frequently during almost my entire time as a sales engineer. He's been at the company for seven years, which is a very long time for a sales rep. But he's been very successful, which has allowed me to be successful. The three times I've been able to go to President's Club (Bahamas, Vegas, and Maui) were because he qualified by meeting his annual quota. We've done so many meetings, demos, and presentations together over the years. We have similar interests, including both being Cubs fans, so we always enjoy spending time together whether talking about work or about anything else. We work very well together, and everyone in Sales in our company knows the two of us as a dynamic duo who successfully sell software together (he does the bulk of it as the sale rep, but I support him with everything from the technical side). "Jim and Jason" is a phrase that's been uttered many, many times by a lot of people. So when I heard he had a stroke, I was stunned. He lives in Indiana, so I wasn't immediately able to visit him, but I had a meeting in Chicago this moming, and I booked my travel to allow me time to drive over to the hosptal in Indiana to visit him for awhile. Thankfully, his cognition is good, but he is working through quite a few other physical issues. It was great to see him, but he didn't look great. I was initially going to take a pic of us together, but I decided to use the above one from Maui instead to represent today's visit. It's still possible he'll fully recover, perhaps in a few months. But he may not, and if not, he wouldn't be able to continue his employment with our company. I'm hoping and praying he recovers mostly for his and his family's sake, but I'm also hoping he will eventually be able to come back and work with me again, as I already miss seeing him and talking with him.
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