mighty lessons

When my father died in May my heart seemed to split wide open.  I was in the midst of separating from my husband, as well as moving to a new house.  My kids, caught in the middle. Then suddenly I was on a plane flying across the country to be with my family in Newfoundland.  Looking back on those days in May I scarce know how I survived.  At a time when I needed someone to lean on I was the most alone I had ever been in my life.  We can go for years feeling that things remain the same and then within the space of a few days reality shifts and we are forever changed.

Somehow I stumbled into June.  The kids and I began our life in a new house, getting used to the changes. I am in awe of my body now because each day I was able to keep going and it never failed me. One day at a time.  June became July and July gave way to August.  And here I am today.  Slowly the heart ache subsides and life around me takes on the visage of normal.  I am learning to go forward.  For the first time in almost 30 years I am not in a relationship.  And while I thought I would leap into the experience it has taken some getting used-to, some adjustment and courage.  My father told me once that he thought I was a very strong person.  He also told me that being able to support myself was important in life because there are no guarantees.  I wonder if he saw something in me that drew that comment to his mind.  For here I am living out the "no guarantee" scenario.

So what does this story have to do with building a business?  Well, it's more about building a life.  We all come to our work and daily engagements with multiple shades of experience.  We are not one-dimensional, and really how boring would that be?  I look back upon May as a month of mighty lessons.  And the most important one came from my father.  He took his exit much as he lived his life, quietly, faithfully and without a fuss.  He died as he lived, with honor and blessings.  My father did not amass great financial fortune in his life but he lived with the kind of abundance and love that most of us yearn for but rarely find.  Not one day of his life did he owe money.  He never had a mortgage or a car loan or any kind of credit.  He never knew a day of debt.  He loved my mother with his whole heart and created a life that was happy, family-centered and rich in joyous gatherings.  He focused on what mattered, never veering from that, and always working hard to support it.  And therein lies the wisdom.  To focus on what matters most in all that we do.  To reaffirm our "why" when we wake up each day.  I believe that if we do that, focus on what matters,  anything and everything is possible.