At the end of the day .... just dance

Long ago, I read this quotation, attributed to many but apparently "anonymous" said it best: 

No man on his death bed ever looked up into the eyes of his family and friends and said, I wish I'd spent more time at the office. 

And in a conversation with one of our younger (than me) staff this week, he shared that he would be retiring at 55. I was surprised but then he told me that his genetic pool indicated that he's not going to live into his 70's. I hope he lives that long and longer ... but what a rare insight into what motivates us ... is it the all-mighty dollar or is it the chance to live as we truly want ... doing what we truly want. 

For me, I often thought I would retire at 59 1/2 ... and likely would have but for the love and passion that I have for my work. But if I am wondering (and I'm not) whether it's really time, I need only look at the deaths of two of my classmates during the past two weeks. One was a man to whom I was connected via marriage ... my sister to his brother. He will be missed sorely by his family, who were as close as any family I've known. They had one daughter ... the oldest ... who must have felt like she was the "little mom" to the rest of the 6 boys! 

And then, late last night, I learned that another classmate, this time a childhood friend as well, had died. I heard from him last in the spring when he drove to my hometown and wanted to touch base with my mom (and if any of you are near her ... please do that ... she  would love it). And now he's gone. I hadn't seen Mike much since graduation ... reunions or a few chance meetings. We were able to connect via Facebook ... and mourned together the loss of his best friend from his high school days, also a childhood friend of mine. 

Today I'm remembering days longer ago than high school: the hours on end with my little record player and MIke. We had played together from the age of 2 ... but our "shining moments" were our pre-teen years where, beginning at age 5 or 6, we would head off to our basements ... at whichever house our parents were gathering ... and put on 45 records (hey, I'm retiring ... of course I'm that old). Then we would dance to our hearts' content. At some point, my mom taught us a few "jitterbug" moves and then we were really off ... creating intricate dance steps that we remembered ... well, at the last reunion where we danced together!! We would also find each other at junior high or high school dances ... long after our group of friends had diverged ... and dance in the center of a crowd, who would clap and egg us on to even more intricate steps. 

Mike is dancing the streets of heaven today ... with his mom and dad, who went before him. And someday ... but hopefully not too soon ... I'll likely have the chance to dance with him one more time. Goodbye, Michael ... you will be missed!!