Family

Old Photos of My Family

Family.  What does that word mean to you? 

I had the privilege of attending my Grandpa’s celebration of life this past weekend in Detroit.  Before attending, I would have defined family in terms of people.   For example, I would have defined it as Grandpa, Grandma, Mom, Dad, Aunts and Uncles, kids, Grandkids, etc.  However, after this past weekend, I now define family with only one word:  Love.

My Grandpa’s famous saying to his friends and family was “I love you more.”  Needless to say, LOVE was the theme of his celebration of life.   My Grandpa lived his entire 87 years within the suburbs of Detroit, so it was no wonder that hundreds of people were in attendance last Friday. 

There were literally thousands of photos streaming about the room on various projectors, and I would be willing to bet just about every single person that attended his celebration of life was in at least one of those photos.   

What surprised me the most was how many photos there were of me.  I lived in the Detroit area until I was about 7 years of age.  I know that the first several years of a person’s life are the most formative, and yet I somehow blocked many of those memories in Michigan out of my mind.

I came across a slew of photos of me at the wheel of my Grandpa’s sailboat, and then my Dad shared the story of those photos.  Apparently, I was not a good sailboat captain, but the love of sailing hit me at a very cellular level.  In fact, one of my first jobs was teaching kids how to sail at the local Yacht Club.  I always attributed my love towards sailing and bodies of water to the fact that I lived in Florida for most of my life, but now I believe it has to do with that time spent with my Grandpa on his sailboat.  

What I took away from my trip to Detroit was to pay attention to what makes my heart sing because that’s a good indication that love is present.  Over the last several weeks, I have been so hard on myself and even doubting myself about whether or not I am going to be successful in this new business of mine.  However, I realized I am successful already.  I am successful because for the first time in my life I can say without a doubt I love my job.