I haven’t always done the best job at communicating with the people in my life that I care about...but, I have learned some valuable lessons along the way that have helped me fine tune my skills.
One experience involved watching my aunt interact with my mom-mom in the final months of her life. It was too little, too late...nothing can make up for years of indifference.
The other is the journey with my brother that my family has been on for the past four years.
It started with learning how to say “I love you.” Since then, I’ve learned the importance of three simple phrases.
It is for this reason I will always say...
“I am sorry” when I am wrong
“Thank you” when I appreciate you
“I love you” and mean it
I don’t always live life to the fullest, but I do my best to make sure that I live it without regret.
I go to the chiropractor a few times a month for an adjustment. Usually, the waiting room is empty and I chat with the office manager. Today, it was occupied by an older gentleman, who was in the middle of telling a story when I walked in the door. When he finished, he paused for a moment and then asked me to guess his age. Let me tell you, he looked really good for 89 years old. He said that the reason why he had no wrinkles on his face was because he never smoked, drank or doped.
He proceeded to tell a story about the way in which he taught his students about the dangers of these vices. One day he brought a drinking glass to the classroom. He placed the glass in a paper bag and with one swing of a hammer; the glass was shattered into several pieces. He emptied the contents of the bag on to the table and asked the students to put the glass back together. They all agreed that there was no way that they could restore these tiny pieces of glass into its original form.
The point of his story wasn’t exactly novel, but the way in which he told it was and that’s what I appreciated the most. All it took was one swing of the hammer (an action that took a mere second to complete) to destroy the glass.
The time spent in the waiting room was more of a monologue than a dialogue, but I didn’t mind. For a moment, it felt like he needed to be there, speaking just as much as I needed to be there, listening...and I appreciated the reminder.
"We only see two things in people, what we want to see and what they want to show us."
