Mon. July 20, 09: A Lesson From A Death In The Family

The first part of this week's Monday Morning is personal, but it reminded me of something we too often forget...


Last Saturday, July 18, my wife and I drove 400 miles round trip in under 12 hours to pay our respect to my cousin and his family as we honored the memory of his mother. Aunt Louise was born in 1916 and lived a long and good life. When word came of her trading this side of the time/space continuum called eternal life for the other side, my mind filled with many memories.

Aunt Louise was born in Gravelly, Arkansas and to the best of my knowledge, except for a brief time living in Northwest Arkansas lived in the pastoral setting that is Gravelly. Gravelly was the maternal side of my family’s ancestral home, having settled there a couple of generations before the War of Northern Aggression, which started in 1861.

The Friday evening before Vicki and I made our pilgrimage to that little hamlet, nestled in the mountains of Arkansas, I sat in the backyard and many memories flooded my mind. She was one of my mother’s younger sisters and mom and I spent several summers with Aunt Louise, helping her pick vegetables, shell peas, shuck corn and then can them in a pressure cooker (I’m sure my recollection of the hard work and long hours that cousin Carl and I were forced to put in have been exaggerated by my aging memory). My thoughts also turned to those who greeted Aunt Louise on the other side—her two older sisters, Ethel and my mother, Nadine; and brothers Odell, Robert and Cleo.

As I reflected on these things, many of which happened almost six decades ago, my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of laughter from my three grandchildren (who had come up from Texas for a previously planned visit) and the happy yapping of my little dog, Tito. Those sounds didn’t change the shadow of death that had cast itself over our family, but they delivered a message to me.

That message which I want to share with you in this Monday Morning is simply this: Regardless of the economic uncertainties, political situation or the normal ups and downs of life—life is good, if we let it be. And no matter what we are dealing with, the voices of the next generation remind us that perhaps we should take things in stride and stay confident and positive because the beat will go on…

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You are the music while the music lasts—T.S. Elliot

Television is that medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time and yet remain lonely.—T.S. Elliot

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered. G.K. Chesterton

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Cathy was a born organizer. Even in elementary school the teachers recognized her ability to organize, motivate and achieve results. Cathy’s greatest sense of fulfillment came from taking a project from start to finish. Cathy was offered a position that promised opportunities for developing, planning and implementing project strategies.

Unfortunately, like many jobs the realities of what she was assigned conflicted with what she thought she was hired to do. Rather than groan and complain about the situation, she decided to look for opportunities to prove herself. She began asking for more complex assignments, even volunteering to put in extra hours to help coworkers and managers with projects. As she became more involved, her abilities were recognized and her areas of responsibility grew. Today she is a senior project manager with the company and living her passion.

Have A GREAT and PROFITABLE Week!
Robert Hidde
bob@confidentliving.com