Gain Some Perspective

I'm going to share a story with you that unfolded just yesterday.

I had a business lunch on my calendar for a few weeks. My lunch date was a woman who I adore as both a friend and a master business leader in our area. I love the time we spend together. Its often filled with wild ideas- neither of us put limits on each other- and bright visions of the future and the work we can do together. We don't spend time ho humming about the economy or in the doom and gloom conversation I often hear others engaged in.

So, there I waited at our scheduled destination. I somehow knew I would remain by myself.

I tried to remember if I had confirmed. I thought I had but yet couldn't find the message on my blackberry.

I had recalled getting an email from her to the masses a few days earlier about her daughter- but she often sends them so I didn't rush to open it. It would have to wait, along with a few hundred others, that came in and were not a top priority (or so I thought).

I know something is wrong as 10 minutes have passed, pass the time we were scheduled to meet. She is not one to be late. I emailed her.

She emailed me promptly back from her iPhone and told me that she was in the hospital with her daughter- who had been there for 4 days and is expected to be there another 8 or 21 more.

We talked at some length. I offered to pull an overnight duty if she needed a break. It was the least that I could do.

I felt terrible. I was so caught up in every day business that I failed to take 30 seconds to open an email from a friend.

Life sometimes gets the best of us. It had got the best of me this week. I had 12 speaking engagements, client meetings and the usual business events to attend. And, I was wildly enthusiastic about my business brainstorming with a dear girlfriend. But business isn't the be-all-end-all in life. Life is more than that.

I think about my superstar business girlfriend overseeing her daughter in the hospital and am reminded that THAT is what life is about. Being there for those we love.