It's an easy quote for me to remember. It's on a sign my
Mom gave me 24 years ago. It's on the wall of my office.
It's solid advice that I
rely upon often.
But never more so than in April, 2021.
The Best/Worst Night of My Life
At 5:55pm, I concluded my phone call with Chris Johnson from LaneTerralever. We agreed on deal terms to sell my
consulting firm to his, for a tidy sum.
A hug and high five from my wife,
Alyson.
At 6:00pm, our friends, the Hurlows, arrived for a glass of wine before a 6:30pm
dinner reservation.
Wine had just hit the glass, and I'd just begun to tell the
tale of the sale, when at 6:04pm my phone buzzed anew.
"I better take this," I
said.
At 6:05pm, on that call, my doctor told me I had cancer and needed urgent surgery
for stage 3b melanoma.
That put a bit of a damper on the celebration.
To say that 10 minutes - and the subsequent 12 months - was a rollercoaster is an insult to theme park
rides.
It was like having your heart ripped out and put into a blender, but then
served to you as a surprisingly tasty smoothie.
I cannot say I kept an even keel
that entire time, as people who were around me then can attest. But I truly worked at it.
I looked at that damn sign each and every day, and tried to temper every moment of despair, and tamp down every instinct to celebrate.
And as the sign predicted, it all worked out, eventually.
AI is going to make you very happy.
AI is going to make you very sad.
But those
emotions aren't forever, they're just for then.
Remember the sign, and keep your
head up!
