What Matters

I went to a very nice service today for a friend that passed away. Claude Vincent Newtson passed away July 6, 2009.

Service was nice. Simple. Fast. To the point.

People said nice things. He looked peaceful in his coffin.

Some prayers were said. Lots of things were said I really did not understand. Some because I could not hear the sweet old man leading the prayer. Some because the words being used were holy verses that were way too around the point for me and my strait forward mind.

We then stood in the grass under a lovely olive tree. Some more prayers were said. I did not understand these either. Some more kind words were spoken. Again above me. We were then asked to leave.

Here is what I took away today:

I value the people around me far more than I usually think about. My relationship with Family and Friends is pretty clear. My relationship with the people I work with and interact with has not been as clear.

There was something special about standing in the green grass, under that tree. Far from the office. Far from desks and paperwork. Not just physically but mentally. When someone did try to talk about work it felt wrong, like an invading thought to be cast out.

There are some very special people in my life that I only get to interact in small, controlled ways.  I am not sure how to fix that but clearly aware of it as of today.

Today we laid to rest a beautiful man that was kind and funny. He was there when I started with The Dot Printer. He taught me a lot about how to get things done and the culture of the company. He was a pain in the ass sometime but his heart was always in the right place. And now even in death he taught me one more lesson.