This week’s post is a little different because it’s personal.
A few weeks ago, I went to two back-to-back conferences and was away from home for the longest time since my son was born 22 years ago. 6 ½ days and it felt like forever.
It wouldn’t have been possible without my wife’s hard work and support, taking care of our adult son with special needs (and multiple challenges) and our support network back home in Roanoke, VA, and beyond. She took care of everything and was amazing as always.
This post is about the picture you saw when you opened it. It’s my wife, son, and I right after I had gotten back into town and saw my son for the first time in a week.
My greatest fear has always been that my son doesn’t miss me when I am gone, and that might sound irrational if you haven’t spent much time around profoundly autistic people. He doesn’t ask for me when I am gone and doesn’t say he misses me.
While at the conference with some friends, I admitted that fear in public for the first time and was pretty shocked that I had shared it, and was quite upset. It isn’t often that I shut down a conversation (if you know me), and this was one of the rare occasions where I couldn’t trust myself to speak on a subject.
It bothered me constantly until I showed up at my son’s adult day program earlier than he was expecting. He didn’t come up and hug me or say he missed me or even say hi…but, he did notice me, smiled, and kept glancing my way constantly. That warmed my heart.
Why share all this personal stuff on a business blog? Because, at the end of everything, it is all personal.
We don’t stop being humans when it comes to business, and neither do our co-workers and clients. We all struggle, in our own ways, and know that at any moment it could be the last one for us.
You don’t always get to pick your exit from your business, and the same could be said of your life as well. I want you to know you are loved, and I pray that you have proof of it like God gave to me in that picture.
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