In the midst of an end to winter hurricane, I lost a dear client. I know there will be many clients i will lose along the way, but some really get to you. Some clients leave an impression while others just leave. I haven't experienced such a feeling like this one in a long time. The sudden, and quick shock that jolted me on March 11, 2010 still leaves me in disbelief that i shall never see my friend and client again. I guess because he and his wife and I were together three days earlier doing some business. But before we signed leases on their apartment, we laughed and shared with one another stories of one the other's dysfunctional families. The advice he gave me was simple. And the advice i gave him was simple. The exchange of each others wisdom, left me in awe that one person could get to the root of my problems with simple answers.

In a salesman's life, he meets and greets the public because that's his job. He makes a living on those very same people who will in turn refer him to others and so on. But it's more than just a business relationship. I tend to make acquaintances and friends from these referrals. Some i have had for 20yrs now. I knew this one almost 12. This client and friend, shall be missed and remembered. His gentle way and caring attitude as his son put it, " he put himself last while all of us were first". And as fortune or faith would have it, i attended the wake tonight (and still suffering from a power outage), it took place in the dark, while the attendees came in to pay their respects. Maybe that's the way he wanted it. So no one would fight, or trip over one another, or get lost in the crowd, or maybe laugh because it was dark, or it was the way he wanted things to be right up to the last day of the wake. I once heard from a dear friend of mine, that the rain was like tears from Heaven. And did it rain last night into today. It rained so hard that it washed all the main distractions away. And for a moment, the suffering, and the tears and all the awful things that come with dying, were forgotten.

"Out out brief candle, life is but a walking shadow. The poor player that struts and frets upon the stage and is heard no more" Your stage my friend was full of friendships and family and love. Your bright spotlight on all of us, was just right, just the right recipe of love.
We now, the living, learn a lesson that's greater than the one you leave behind and we go on. When a salesman loses a client and a friend, its like losing a part of your family.
Rest in Peace my friend.