End of an Era

I hate having to meet hard deadlines when I'm sick. I am in a busy period as well, two client events in a month, punctuated by a trip to England to attend my last grandparent's funeral.

Attending the client events is a sign of success, so I am really pleased to be busy, but a funeral always gives one a chance to take stock of where one is, a milestone if you like.

My grandfather, Donald Gardiner, was 97 when he passed away a week and a half ago, and he had most of his marbles until he was 94. Through his eighties he would do things like go on 24 hour trips to Ireland by ship and rail just to see an old steam engine somewhere. He did the same when he came to the US, only my mother drove him around. An opinionated guy, he helped develop the Hurricane fighter to fight the Germans in the second world war. In short he had a mostly happy life, only less pleasant when he had to leave his house of 60+ years to move to an Alzhiemer's Home.

Why do I bother you with this? Well it occurs to me that if you're not enjoying what you do, then get the gumption to change it. For me the change I made to form The Event Mechanic! was a distillation of many forces, some intentional, some not. But I love what I'm doing even in the times when I'm working and I'm sick and rushed so I can pay my respects to my antecedents.

My message? Enjoy what you do as I don't know how many of us will be lucky to get to the ripe old age of 97. And I think I'm a chip off of old Grandad, so it's a timely reminder to me.

I'll be back in a couple of weeks.