The Story of the day: So the story goes, 3 months ago a friend of mine from long ago instant messaged me on FB with news letting me know his wife had cancer and was in stage 4, in it's final stage. Not many people knew and though usually I am one to have something I could say sometimes there are no words that can be written or spoken that truly could express thoughts so I offered only what I could, just a person to listen....
He had chose his priority and decided to close his business down so he could spend the time with her and be her strength thru these last months. Though he did not post of this on Facebook so many were not aware and he dealt with it primarily thru himself, as was his way. At times I would see his anger and frustration of the situation expressed in debates on off the subject FB topics on other friends posts. This became a way of indirectly venting, sometimes his debates were very intense which he meant no direct harm to the other but probably was an outlet of the incredible stress and pressure of what he was going thru and what was to come. He and his wife had been together for 23 years and from his own words "23 years of the most unbelievable relationship that included not one fight, argument or breakup". . Yesterday she departed and was free from this world and pain, and though we all have our deep sympathies for him, I am sure nothing can address what my friend is currently going thru nor anyone that has gone thru this circumstance, all I can do is cherish the example his bravery has shown thru it all and maybe share some lessons from it that I myself have processed thru seeing this happen which indirectly impacted my life...... so he are are my 4 life lessons for today 1. We are not guaranteed time, do not waste it on insignificant troubles or being unhappy with your circumstances. Unless your dead or on the way out anything can be addressed, so cut loose what is heavy and let go of insignificant troubles, choose to move forward in happiness with the time you have left, it all can change in an instant. 2. No one gets out of here alive. In this world of the 6 month, 1 year, 5 year goals and all our well conceived plans remember even your plan for today is not guaranteed, so "enjoy the moment" for one day it may be your last and you may not even know it. 3. Spend the most time with those that will be at your death bed, as morbid as that sounds it's not meant to be, but how many times do we spend more time at our jobs with people who we do not even really know or like that we would not even be around if it were not for the job and pieces of green paper that come with it...or how about( for those that have them) our own kids that we send off to school to learn from strangers who spend more time with them then we do but we really don't know the teachers ourselves, and for that matter may not be who we'd leave our pet goldfish with and yet we let them hang with our kids daily for 6 hours while the majority of us spend time at work with the people we don't really know or care that much for....plus we can't forget about all those sports stars we spend so much time with or should I say spend time watching "on a screen", they don't even know us but we dedicate our time knowing them and their stats.... AS if they care...I'm going to say that there's a high chance that they won't be at your death bed my friends....I won't even go into musicians, actors and reality shows..you know where I'm going with this ...time is precious spend yours with those who value it the most and who will miss it the most... 4. If your goal is to spend your time to have stacks of green paper of dead presidents while chasing the next shiny object or toy let me tell you from personal experience when you get there it's not all that it is cracked up to be....greater responsibility, greater liability, greater time constraints, greater taxes to pay, greater stress, greater amounts of people who count on your decisions...now doesn't that sound great...LOL.... You would think by being a millionaire it gets easier, I'm here to tell you IT DOESN'T...My "greatest" return on investment has been with my time with those that I care about and love, not on the toys that will break or the monopoly pieces I collect...Invest in creating the memories that no amounts of money could replace, in my opinion that should be your focus...because all the money and toys could disappear but you will always have those memories to treasure and in the end those memories carry on with the ones you created them with.......
In respect for his privacy I will keep his name to myself unless he chooses, but I dedicate this Story to my friend from long ago and in memory of his loving wife who both found each other in this giant world... they shared and created the best of memories with the time that they had in this brief thing we all call life.