Hello, bloggers.

Whenever I’m in Chicago, I check in with my old friends, so recently I called one very close friend of mine and said hello.

At 85 years old he’s as gleeful and cheerful as anybody could possibly be.

He told me he’d gotten a call from a big contractor, who asked him to come back to work for them as a consultant.  He would be paid about $500 a day and have a car with a driver to take him wherever he wanted to go.

My friend thought about it and said, “No, my body just won’t allow it.  I’m 85.  I love what I’m doing, which is nothing except what I feel like doing, and there’s not enough money in the world for me to come back and go to work.”

But he felt honored in this time of economic crisis to be sought out because the company needed his expertise.

Talking to my friend taught me that in reality, we never lose our worthiness.  If we have a particular talent, even though we might have been out of the race for awhile, we’re not forgotten.

That behooves us to be the best we can be while we’re doing what we do.

Also, it’s a gift to know when it’s time to come back, when not to, and what’s really important.Priorities change over the years.  I’m sure there was a time in this man’s life when he would have given his dog and his right arm for that particular incentive package.

It also tells us that the best times may be ahead of us...  and that really great work, even after you’ve stopped doing it, is remembered—and as long as you’re remembered, you’re still in the game.

I did a lot of thinking about the conversation and thought what a great honor it was for him to receive, at the age of 85, the situation of somebody pleading with him to come back to work, but also for him to have the wisdom to say, “No, thank you, but I’m not going to do it.  This is my time.”

So... onward and upward, great friend.  I always knew you were a great sage, even though we call each other much less flattering names!

Matt