Three weeks ago I sat through an all day training about panic bars. Exciting stuff. Riveting. Edge-of-your-seat kind of excitement. What, you don’t believe me? Okay, so it wasn’t that exciting. Let’s be honest, it was panic bars. How exciting could it possibly be. What made it entertaining, fun and interesting was the vendor that did the presentation. He was informative, hilarious and even referred to himself in the third person. Several of us joked afterwards that he reminded us of the classic Seinfeld episode.
Last night I got an email that our vendor friend had passed away from a sudden heart attack. I couldn’t believe it. I just kept thinking how quickly life can change. If you’re like me, maybe you don’t often think of life ending, except in the case of fear of a lengthy illness. If that was the case, we would hopefully have time to take care of things and say what we needed to say.
Three weeks ago this man was full of life. He had spent a majority of his career in the door hardware industry which is really not all of that exciting. He told great stories and had a laugh that filled the room. He glowed as he spoke of his son who was also in the same industry and how well he was doing in sales. None of us knew or imagined we wouldn’t see him again. We never anticipated that he would be gone suddenly and so soon.
I really didn’t know this man well. I spent a few hours listening to him in a conference room. I think the takeaway for me is that life is so brief. Our moments can be gone in a blink. How are we spending them? How do we invest in each relationship? How do we treat others and even a room full of strangers?
Our lives are but a quick moment. Things can change in a blink.
What coversations do you need to have today?
What things do you need to make right?
What things do you need to say?
Do it now.
Things can change in a blink.
