"I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life." ~ Henry David Thoreau
It was one of the first loans I closed. A "Yellow Page" lead came a calling and I was there to answer. The gentlemen on the other line was looking to buy his Mother's home. We hit it off, more than just a day to day client/consumer connection. I'll always be thankful for that.
A few months back, he called me wanting to refinance his home. He was looking to get a bit of cash-out and lower his interest rate. We were just about clear to close (the three magic words in the Mortgage Biz) and I had left him a message on his cell phone. I didn't hear back for about a week. That was unlike him. So, being the persistent chap that I can be, I called again. He answered this time. He told me that he just found out that he had three months to live.
I must admit that I didn't quite know what to say. No encouraging words or enlightening thoughts were conveyed from my lips to his ear. I was comfortably dumb at that moment in time.
This past Friday I called his cell phone just to see how he was doing. It was disconnected. So, I called his home phone. His wife got on the line and I asked how he was doing. "Sweetheart, he died Tuesday," she said.
I also found out earlier this week that a close friend of one my best friends passed away at a very young age. That kind of stuff tends to make one think or re-think this here life.
Death, to my knowledge, is inevitable. I'm cool with that. But how many reminders, constant reminders, do I need... to live every damn moment with every scope of my being? Shoot, there's a lot that goes into this existence (family, finances, friends, imperfections, etc), yet I hope not that I learned from this one... but I actually live what I learned.
Life is precious and is the only thing all of us are experiencing together until the inevitable happens. I have no need or desire to go "Tony Robbins" on anybody's posterior, but my own. For me, tears wield a vicious sword of truth. The truth is, I want to make every moment count. I just need to make sure that my written words are actually lived, rather than a false document of my life.
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