Why Do I Bother?

I just returned from dinner with Bryan at Chez Jose’s in Portland. Cassie (Bryan’s sister) and Dan (Bryan’s dad) showed up just before we left. What a nice surprise that was. Cassie is like my own sister and Dan is known to me as “dad”. I was thrilled to be able to enjoy spicy Mexican food and a couple margaritas with no painful consequences for my stomach and throat. These new pills are terrific, but that’s not what I wanted to share with you.

I wanted to share with you how wonderful it is to have such close and caring friends. Bryan has been my best friend for about 25 years now. I tell him all the time, but I don’t think he could possibly know how much he means to me. Bryan is the kind of guy who will drop everything to help you out. At my wedding when the power went out Bryan, my best man of course, was on the phone arranging generators and portable toilets (the church had an electric pump on the well) for all the guests. I remember another time a couple years ago when I was on the way to the airport with my wife and her friend and my car broke down. I called Bryan and limped the car over to his house where we transferred the luggage to his car and he drove the rest of the way. Two examples of the things he does for me over and over again.

Cassie is possibly the sweetest and most genuine person I know. She has the ability to look at you and tell you something from her heart and you feel as if she had been thinking all day about how to make you feel better. If the truth was known, maybe she had been thinking about you all day for just that reason. She always has time for the things that really matter, no matter how full her plate is. She is a beautiful woman inside and out, but I don’t think she always believes it. She should.

Dan is amazing himself. If you knew him you wouldn’t be surprised that his kids are as special as they are. He’s a rock, and I don’t mean the kind you have to sort out of your garden every year. I mean the kind that can’t be moved, that never changes, that you could build a home on. He doesn’t know it, but I credit him with much of the success I have today. Not financial success (although I wish I had learned a few things about that from him too), but the kind of success that you tally in your relationships, in the love you give and receive, and the peace you feel deep inside when you are certain you have done the right thing. He taught me so much about these things, I don’t think I have told him that.

These people and the rest of the Wieden family are my friends. They are my family. I am grateful for each of them and what they have done for me over the years. Apart from my wife, there are few who have given me as much joy.

Thank you!

Tags: Family, Friends //