Celebrate LIFE!

Recently I lost a cornerstone in my life, "my networking coach", and my beloved grandmother of 93 years to a peaceful passing in her own home, and while surrounded by her two sons, family and loved ones. I was unable to be with her during her final days and hours due to a schedule conflict over a professional obligation. This Saturday marks the commencement of my acceptance to The George Washington University in our nation's Capitol city as a Master's Degree Candidate, or cohort as they call it at GWU. It was the end of her life that has me thinking about the rest of mine, and so I'd like to take this article as a matter of personal privilege, and share LIFE as Grandma Thea showed it to me. Perhaps after reading this, you too can celebrate LIFE!

L-ove

There is no substitute for love, especially when it comes to you unconditionally every day and every year of your life. As children we are not conscious enough to realize how important this is to the self-actualization process. As teenagers we begin to understand the wisdom and counsel, and yet we still don't fully grasp the values and morals being imparted. As adults we uncover how short life can be and yearn for those days gone by. In the simplest terms my grandmother was a gift of loving wisdom, loving support, loving kindness, and loving generosity for me, our family, and for everyone that she cared about. Grandma Thea knew how to love, and be loved, and this helped her to always celebrate LIFE.

I-ntegrity

As a survivor of The Great Depression, and World War II, this high school Hall of Fame basketball star went on to teach school in a small farm community, get married, have two boys, waitress, and later serve as the GM for the Kozlak Family at the famed Jax Cafe in Minneapolis. She invested 37 years at Jax. We of course shared several thousand conversations over our 41-year relationship, and yet one talk in her breakfast nook a few years back still resonates with me. It's about integrity. In 1962, my grandmother was a single-mom working as a waitress when she purchased the only home she'd ever own for $18,000. She borrowed the money from a family member, and promised to pay it back with interest. Rather than buy fancy things as her income grew, she repaid her loan in larger payments plus the interest, sooner than she had promised. No bank loan. No security guarantee. No problem. "I gave my word" she said, and that day I learned that "integrity is what you do when nobody else is looking." Nothing could me more true, and yet more in need today than people who give their word, and keep it.

F-ailure

Some of the best lessons in life come as a result of failure. We make decisions, take risks, change direction, refuse advice and endeavor forward only to find out that things don't always work out as we hope, or as we plan. I have experienced failure in both personal and professional instances - and I am thankful. At the time or place of occurrence, failure can feel very defeating; however, it's all a matter of perspective. A short story will illustrate my point, so immediately following high school, I had choices to make about my future. I was blessed with a great public education, athletic talent, an interest in serving my country, and some artistic ability. Would I play baseball? Would I join the Army? Would I pursue Acting? Honestly, I was swamped with choices, and short on clarity about which one to choose. After my first month of washing dishes from 6am-2pm M-F at a local nursing home (not a fun summer job, I assure you), I stopped over to Grandma Thea's to mow her lawn. I was certain dish washing was not my future! After mowing the lawn, she invited me in so we could play our favorite game of cards (cribbage) and talk over coffee in the breakfast nook. She sensed that something was on my mind, and shortly thereafter we were talking about my future. She asked many good questions, and listened intently as I shared my thoughts on each option. Rather than judge me prematurely, she shared stories of her life, and points during which she had choices to make. She shared the choices openly, and to my surprise, some of them were failures; however, this was the lesson. Grandma Thea reinforced the need for me to have faith in my own judgement and abilities. The next day I decided to join the Army, and she was in full support. I visited the local recruiter and "signed up" for 2 years to become an Airborne Ranger so that I could serve my country before I went to college. My plan was to exit the military in 2 years, and then to take advantage of the GI Bill which offered $25,000 for college with a minimal Reserve commitment. Without getting into details, I failed the last phase of the entrance process because of a misdiagnosis on the part of a Navy doctor at the MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station.) It was that failure that changed the rest of my life, and for the better. Because I had failed to join the Army, I did not end up serving in Desert Storm/Iraq and I instead went on to graduate from a nationally recognized university, land a premier position with a Fortune 500 company, relocate to South Florida and start a successful business network that today is the fastest growing in our market, author and launch a professional development program unlike any other in the world, marry an amazing woman to share my life, and today serve as the first senior executive to hold the title of Chief Relationship Officer within a major law firm.

Failure? Yes. Thankful? Yes - and thank you Grandma Thea for sharing the perspective that helped me to create so many of my life's successes.

E-verlasting

To experience something so great in your life is to hope that it never ends. While we're in the present, tomorrow seems near, and forever is hard to imagine. Forever is way out there, somewhere, someday, and we'll all get to it or there eventually. Forever, that is. This brings me to the conclusion of my article, but certainly not the end of the story surrounding the wonderful person and life of my Grandma Thea. I have so much to say, so much to share, so much to give so I'll be talking about her, thinking about her, and remembering her every day for the rest of my life. You see - the best parts of her are within me, thanks to her unconditional gift of love, time, wisdom, knowledge, and perspective. The greatest gift I can give this world, is to honor her life by sharing her best which resides in me, with you.
I used to wonder what it meant when my favorite Pastor would say "and his everlasting love, Amen" at the conclusion of a prayer about Jesus. NOW I KNOW. My everlasting gift from Jesus himself, was my Grandma Thea to watch over my life.

I'll miss her kindness and loving way more than words can say, so for now I'll celebrate LIFE! And you should, too.