My Friend Jonathan

I work I guess what you would call a swing shift, my hours are 2pm to 9pm, which works well for me. I don't have to set an alarm clock, I'm one of those people that pushes the snooze button way too many times. I have my mornings and early afternoons, especially important in the winter getting so much more of the sunshine time in my life, even if I'm inside the house.

I also have made friends with a lot of the people that work at night cleaning and taking care of the building, all really nice people, most of whom work jobs during the day and then come to my building to clean at night. I say hello to pretty much everyone.

Not the cleaning crew, but some, a select few of the daytime workers, the "higher ups" or those who think they are, who never say hello back or nod their heads in acknowledgment of a greeting, it's just a natural reaction for me to say hello or acknowledge people I see everyday. Takes me a while, but I've learned to not jump at saying hello when I run into certain people, I've said hello hundreds of times by now and they never acknowledge me. I give up. I've been surprised a few times, someone jumps on the elevator and there I go saying hello and it's one of those mean people. Then I want to say, you know, I only said hello to you because that's who I am, I acknowledge people I see everyday, but I really didn't mean to greet you, it's just my natural reaction. I of course never say that, I think it though and wish I did have the "ovaries" to say it!

My dad, who worked as a New York City firefighter, fought lots of dangerous fires, probably got sick with his cancer from all the fumes he took in, equipment in his active days on the job is no where near what the FDNY has now, though it's still very dangerous for them. Well when he retired he worked a security job from 4pm to midnight for a big financial firm downtown. He would hold the door open for people and they would never thank him. Now my father was the type of man who told everyone exactly what he thought of them but he also played by the rules. He was a security guard and these executives were making big time money and he would lose his job if he said anything. He played the game. I was so mad, I wanted to go up to that office and say do you know who this man is?! He may have saved someone you knew and loved from dying in a fire. He put his life on the line everyday for strangers and even now holds a door open for you and you ignore him?! The nerve. Thank you and hello, takes two seconds, makes you feel better.

My sister in law Jackie, my brother Jimmy's wife, lived upstate for many years, and now lives in Florida, when she comes up here to visit in Brooklyn and/or Staten Island she says hello to everyone who passes. It's just the way it was in her life growing up, but even more, and I believe she has passed this tremendous trait to my beautiful nieces Megan and Sarah and even my brother Jimmy, Jackie's older sister Kathleen is handicapped, she's like an innocent young teenager and people like Kathleen can change you, they change their families, I've seen it so many times, they just seem to be nicer, kinder more loving human beings.

My friend Jonathan is also like a child. He just turned 21 last June and graduated from his special school, gave the speech at his graduation, I was so proud of that man/child and his mother, she's an amazing woman.



When I first started working at my present job Jonathan would clean our office space. No one spoke to him. He is shy and I'm not saying that any of the people I work for aren't nice people, they are, they would acknowledge him by saying thank you as he emptied their garbage pails but again never spoke to him. He comes to work with his mother, who drives a school bus during the day for special ed children, a hard working, wonderful woman.

It wasn't long before I introduced myself to Jonathan and we instantly became friends. Now everyone says hello to him and he will say hello but if I'm not in the room he wont say hello, the first thing on his mind and out of his mouth is where is Tricia. If we have cake (or more chocolate) in the office, like now, there's Halloween candy all over the office, Jonathan will ask me if he can have it, never anyone else, though they do now tell him to take some. And watching Jonathan eat a chocolate bar is absolutely heavenly. He's a child and each time he has chocolate, his favorite, he eats it like he's never tasted it before and it's the best thing in the world at that very moment. He's changed me. I love looking at the world through Jonathan's eyes and heart.

Jonathan is proud of the work he does. He cleans the glass doors in the reception area and library and if I walk by while he's cleaning he shows me what a good job he did, see Tricia no fingerprints.

He loves to help his mom at home too, loves to paint and do little odd jobs around the house. Some of the women I work with now bring him their Home Depot or similar stores' flyers. Jonathan loves them and again before saying hello to them, he first will ask if they have a flyer for him. It's just what's first on his mind when he sees them, he's just an innocent child.

When Jonathan was going to school he would spend all his vacations in either Puerto Rico or Atlanta, Georgia with his dad and then his mom would be cleaning my office and I would ask about Jonathan and she would say, oh Jonathan asks about his friend! He says "mommy make sure you take care of my friend Tricia's office, do a good job". He also brought me back a present one year from Puerto Rico, a little jewelry box that I treasure.

Well Jonathan graduated as I said last June and also turned 21 the same week. I was honored that he invited me to both events. Unfortunately I couldn't make his birthday party but I did attend his graduation.



The school is amazing, everyone greeting everyone, acknowledging friends and strangers alike. The men and women who work here, the parents, they are different, believe me, the teachers love their work, they do it from their hearts and the families who work so hard also with their children also have that blessing of seeing the world through these pure souls. Watching the teachers talk about each child throughout the graduation ceremony you could tell how much they loved the children they worked with, some of them since they were 5 or 6, like Jonathan.

Of course they loved Jonathan. He was also very helpful at the school, cleaning up or doing any little odd job that he could handle, and he does a great job, he's again like a little boy, trying to do a good job for himself, proving that he can and also looking forward to asking, did I do a good job and getting praise for a good job done.

This graduation ceremony was the most heart warming event I have ever attended. There were so many there who were worse off than Jonathan but for the most part every member of the graduation class was beaming, smiles on their pure loving faces.



Jonathan is not so much a smiler, he's still a shy boy. But one on one I've gotten a few smiles from his beautiful face and again it gives me a feeling I can't explain. This is Jonathan's best friend from school, look at his smile, does that not warm your heart!



Jonathan went to Puerto Rico last July and tells his mom that he loves it there and doesn't want to come home yet. He loves his father very much too and also the warm weather of Puerto Rico but will be back for the holidays and then back down to Puerto Rico. He deserves this break and also having so much time to spend with his dad. His mom does want him to start working but also agrees the time he's spending with his dad is good for him, he's happy and deserves to have some time off. His school has a program to help their graduates get jobs and maybe they can get him a job at Home Depot or Lowe's. I can just see Jonathan beaming and proud to be working there and everyone knowing what a hard worker this little man is.

I've missed him these last few months and can't wait to see him when he comes back, I will get him a nice bag of chocolate for missing Halloween with me. But his mom tells me when I ask that he's always asking about his friend too.

My friend Jonathan.