I recently attended a party in Toronto for my buddy Billy’s 70th birthday. It was a low-brow event at Dave & Busters, perfectly appropriate for a bunch of guys from what was, when we were young, a low-rent suburb of Montreal. Billy’s children and much beloved young grandchildren were also among the revellers.
Billy’s friends and family are not particularly low brow, although none of us take ourselves too seriously. We had retired lawyers, accountants, engineers, and entrepreneurs, and for good measure, even a bankruptcy trustee.
Billy’s wife and daughter organized the event and handed out unlimited game cards to the participants. We ate, re-acquainted with old friends, and played video games. We all got a take-away baseball cap that says “Bill’s 70th.
A good time was had by all.
George is a real estate investor. He flew in from Los Angeles for the party and explained that since his mother had passed away much too young, he always takes the view that he would rather attend events to celebrate life, rather than wait to attend funerals.
George’s words got me thinking.
My first profound thought was that, back when I was practicing law, I never made it to parties that were out of town. I was barely coping with life and as much as I wanted to go, somehow the timing was never right. There were some local events that I had to miss as well.
My second thought was that I am not as close to many of my out-of-town family members as I might have been if I had found the time to celebrate the good things in life with them.
And finally, I thought about my former colleagues in my law firm, almost none of whom I have kept up with, after practicing there for 34 years. Many of us considered ourselves to be friends at the time, and I was invited to a few life-event parties back then, but nothing since. Nor have I invited any of them to my events since I retired. I imagine that if I hear that they have passed away, I will pay my respects by going to their funeral, and that a few of them may come to mine.
Going forward, I am going to try to be more like George.
This article was originally published by Law360 Canada, part of LexisNexis Canada Inc.