I had a wonderful boss once who allowed us to leave the office to finish Christmas shopping or do last minute errands. She understood. With a quick wink, she would whisper, "Go, go! Get outta here, Kid". She was rough around the edges but oh so kind. She seemed to know that Christmas is a one-woman magic show and the women who worked for her were mothers and magicians.
She was also the boss that asked me one devastatingly hot summer if I had an air conditioner for my small daughter and I. When I told her no, the next Saturday a unnamed pick-up truck delivered a brand new air conditioner to my cloistered city apartment. That's the kind of boss she was...that's the kind of human being she was.
Last year, I happened upon her obituary in the newspaper and felt a swift stab of sadness and sent a note to her next of kin, a niece with her name. She wrote back and told me I had described her aunt perfectly, an old salt who in an undercover way loved and helped all her underlings. I've had all kinds of bosses through the years - the good, the bad and the ugly. She was most definitely in the best camp with that marvelous dichotomy of mettle and benevolence. She was a tough cookie with Christmas heart of gold.
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