FOR FRANK and MANY OTHERS I NEVER THANKED ENOUGH
Friday, July 31, 2020
Toughness and survival often go hand in hand.
So does reading the landscape, and reading people and situations, artfully dodging trouble while pouncing on the next opportunity. So often we briefly revere the qualities of someone who is gone now – they’re dead, their steady path ended abruptly, they’ll never chase another opportunity …
Too quickly, I believe we discard what is gone and who is gone from our daily life – partly a survival instinct, I suppose, part of the grieving process.
And what do we grieve most of the mentor who has passed, the friend we’d lost touch with, the neighbor we didn’t talk too often enough?
We grieve the missed opportunity.
We know this, we are reminded every time.
There is nothing we can do to fix that – and we easily beat ourselves up.
Remembering mentors I’ve lost makes me smile just as it makes me sad – but today especially, I’m thinking about and fondly remembering Frank, I miss his kind but pointed comments, I miss his support and belief in my talent, and I miss the not so gentle nudge to keep things moving.
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