Savoring Today
November 14th, 2008 by Nien-Ling Wacker
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I was shocked to learn that last weekend Alex Wilson, our PDP manager, lost his mother suddenly. His parents, he called to explain, were in a car accident. His mother died instantly. His father survived the tragedy.
Alex started working with me right out of college. I had only met his mother once.
This put me in a reflective mood. Life is so precarious. A day earlier, Alex told me, his parents, had been happily preparing for a vacation in New Mexico. The next, his mother was gone.
A few years ago, Jeff Huang, our PSG manager, lost his mother when she completely unexpectedly suffered a heart attack. I never really knew either of Alex’s or Jeff’s mothers. But they left their legacy, their human footprint, as I like to call it, in their sons. These women raised such considerate, caring and sensitive young men, they must have truly enjoyed their lives to have such a positive influence on their sons.
In my years as a professional I notice that a lot of us can’t wait to finish one project just to get it done and start on another. We are always looking to the future for what’s next. Hence, a lot of the time, we chase the future and miss the fun of the project itself.
As I try to find the meaning in what has happened, I am reminded of just how much we can’t predict the future. All we have is today.
Enjoy the process, enjoy the journey, enjoy the life.
Author Info
Laserfiche
Staff
Nien-Ling Wacker is the founder and CEO of Laserfiche.
November 14th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
A few weeks ago, a thought prompted me to take sometime out of my day to go to see Sister Ella, as we called her. She was 97. Her focus in life was her husband, children, grandchildren, church and home. She invested her time in the people around her. She never had a day job that paid a wage.
Since her worsening heart condition prohibited her leaving her home, I have missed her at our weekly ladies studies. She had difficulty hearing, but always had a great deal of wisdom and encouragement to share. She had lost most of her vision and much of her hearing. However, when she would come to the studies, I would read to her and she would enrich the meaning of the verses to us all.
I was working on more paperwork for a bid, when I felt that internal prompting to stop by and visit with Sister Ella. I went on working and forgot what I had intended to do. Unfortunately, she passed away this week. I will never know what she would have shared with me. Nor, what I would have shared with her. There is an empty spot that will never be filled by that moment.
The mark she left on countless people in our town and around the world will be missed. As for myself, I missed a great opportunity that I can never have again in this life. So, when you have a prompting thought to call a parent, child or someone you know, don’t let it get lost in the daily grind. There will always be more papers on your desk and more work than the 24 hours we have been given can accommodate.
Remember, we have never been promised tomorrow. We only have now. At the end of all things it isn’t how much money we made, how many deals we closed, or to what level of prestige we have risen. It is the lives of the people around us that we touched that really counts.