A Lot to Lose

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I was on a cramped little plane heading to the Midwest and we were just about halfway through the trip when I started to feel antsy.

Maybe it's the fact that we are all always in touch, but not being connected I started feeling weird.

Just wondering what was going on back home.

And not being able to check in.

I thought back to the years when I was a putrid bachelor...thinking about someday having something that I was deathly afraid to lose.

I'd also suffered loss too...and the fear that hangs over your head...every day since...is enough to drive you crazy if you let it.

And it occurred to me that living your life is about accumulating a whole bunch of love that you are AFRAID to lose.

Life isn't about avoiding loss.

It's about living through it.

The plane touched the ground and I grabbed my phone.

It was freezing cold.

It had slipped below the seat and was against the freezing wall. You know what happens when your phone is cold?

The battery dies.

I turned it on and the charge went from 27% to 4% as I texted my beautiful wife.

I just wanted to shake the antsy feeling.

"Landed," I wrote.

"Cool," she answered.

"How's everything?"

(I couldn't shake it).

"Call me when you get to the hotel."

(That wasn't a POSITIVE response).

"Everything all right?"

(I was afraid to get the answer...but I had to wait...my phone died...and the red plug flashed on the screen).

I held the phone to my arm...to try and get it heated up.

I waited. Waited! Waited!! Waited!!!

Tried to turn it on again.

There was a text:

"We're fine."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Sometimes you just get scared...

...life does that.

But it has to be lived.

And the more you gather to be afraid to lose...

...the more rich your life really is.


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