On the surface, these December mornings look a lot like the winter mornings of years past for Jimmy Morrison. He leaves his home in Pelham, Tennessee, around 2:30 a.m. to fight the time change and start work at the Volkswagen plant hours before sunrise. He still pulls long shifts fixing damaged vehicles, a job with hours that get expanded during the holidays.
But, for a 55-year-old man who describes himself as easygoing, a sadness follows him on the long commutes. It is there at work, too.
“I still can’t believe he’s gone,” Morrison said. ” … It’s like you got a hole in yourself. Something’s missing.”
At the start of this month, Morrison was in the final days of recovery from COVID-19. He had been sicker than he could ever remember, he said, worse than when he was hospitalized for pneumonia.
While Morrison’s health was improving, though, his best friend at work was getting progressively sicker.