See You Later.....

So have you paid attention to the words we use "automatically" when we part ways from someone, from a meeting, a friend, etc. Words such as "see you later", "I'll call you later/tonight/tomorrow/next week...", and so on.
You get the drift.
But my point is...


Says Who?
Who says there will be a later, tonight, tomorrow, etc.
Now I am not being morbid here but the fact of the matter is;
We Only Have But TODAY!!!
or better yet
We Only Have the NOW!!!
Yesterday is Gone, Tomorrow is Not a Guarantee, ENJOY the NOW!!.
Yes its great to make plans, we all do. That's what life is all about-planning vacations, planning careers, planning families, setting goals, developing yourself both physically and mentally-that is definitely what life is all about.
But Do It Humbly.
"The Lord Has Given Us But Today"- 2 Very key words-Given and Today.
Life is a GIFT!!
Enjoy TODAY!!
Lastly Remember-

Its Not What's Been Give To You-Its What You Do With It.

Lessons I Learned the Day I Died-What Can I Do To Help

I am very fortunate to be surrounded by very supportive and loving family members, friends and colleagues. Each and every family member pitched in to help in every way they can through last year, and I'll detail more of those heroes later. It is when friends or business colleagues offered "...call me if you need anything..." or "...what can I do to help..." that I found it difficult to answer. It was/is great of them all to come by for a visit, offer words of encouragement and offer help, but deep down I know that while they are all sincere, I could not possibly ask for anything that would pull them away from their own family obligations. And so as these offers of assistance came in I found myself telling them to "pray for me".

Well just a few weeks ago Reesa and I attended a benefit concert by Dudu Fisher, a former Cantor who turned his talents to entertainment on stage and even performed at Les Miserables in England. During this benefit perfomance he would introduce each song with a few words and as he introduced the song "Bring Him Home" (from Les Miz) he offered that

"The Prayers of Many Are Heard".

Well I could certainly attest to that as the prayer of the many who prayed for me certainly helped!!!

I have yet to touch on the "Lessons I Learned". I will begin to do so shortly. I just I'd share some thoughts, memories and experiences that touched me over the past year+.

Again, please recommend my Blog to anyone you feel may need some words of Hope and Encouragement.

Lessons I Learned The Day I Died-Transformation

As my Chaplin once told me "...our brains are not geared to deal with death..."

How True.

We all go along our daily lives, making plans, setting goals, business and career plans, social plans, vacation plans, education plans, family plans, personal growth plans and so on. Point being we are focused on LIVING.

And that is a good thing, a natural thing.

Then one day you go to the hospital for something you suspect, in my case a bowel obstruction, of which I've had a few and all have passed in the past. TWO months later and surgery as well I am told I have less than a year to live.

This is not something I would wish on anyone.

I've had numerous discussions on whether its "good to know or better to go" and I'll share my thoughts on that later. As well as the wave of emotions that you go through-also at a later post.

A couple of things do stand out in my mind though;

I remember reading the newspaper in early 2009 and came upon an article about the upcoming winter olympics in Vancouver and throwing the paper away in disgust because my only thought was "why bother reading about this, I won't be around to enjoy it anyways".

Another incident that stands out in my mind is looking incredulously at my wife when she came home from a shopping spree and one of the items was a 4-pack of Colgate toothpaste. What a waste of money I thought, I'll never live long enough to use them all up.

Well going from those "frames of mind" to now making plans again, looking ahead to the future, is a transformation that took quite a while and one that has taught me a lot about life.

I have always been a modest peron, living a modest life, blessed to be married to an incredible individual and having a succesful career. I've always taken great joy at helping others, whether at work as their manager or at the community through volunteer work.

Now it was

WHY ME?

And now it still is

WHY ME?

When I was stricken I always wondered WHY ME? But ironically when I was blessed with the good news this past January I also asked WHY ME?

I feel that my current situation comes with a big responsibility-one of sharing, inspiring, giving hope and motivation.

Stay tuned for future posts as I take you on my journey and the elements that brought about my Transformation.

Please pass along this blog to anyone you feel may need a "pick me up", wherever they are in their journey of life.