The Perfect Person

by Shawn Lackie

I will apologize up front and hope you will go with me on this short journey. I know this is supposed to be about Real Estate.

They always say to write about what you know. And to a certain extent I think I know about what I write each week for the Standard. I’m sure there are many out there that would challenge this. Sometimes, you get phone calls or text messages (e-mails?) that send you in a different direction.

I had one of those recently. I would say it was devastating but I don’t want to be too emo here. It WAS hurtful. I can’t lie. I was told through a social media contact that a friend we worked with many years ago (early 80s) had passed away on April 9th.

Wow. If you think back to your early years in business, corporate or otherwise, the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s were a period of growth, prosperity, and fun! Everyone had a good time. Hey, why not? You were relatively well paid. Stress was to a minimum, and your whole life was ahead of you, as unplanned as it may have seemed. So many decades later, when you hear one of your cronies has passed (cancer, ugh), it kind of hits home.

On many levels, when was the last time you actually reached out to one of your old chums from the past just to say hi and ask how they were doing? Probably not too often. We get caught up in our day-to-day routines and never take time to look at some of the things from the past that shaped who we are. Maybe now is the time to do that.

I had a call two years ago about my best friend growing up who had dropped from a massive heart attack. Glen Holtby. Many of you should remember that name. One of the nicest most gentle spirits you could ever meet. But in true fashion Glenny went out the way only he could have imagined. He played a full round of golf in the morning, played in a volleyball tournament in the afternoon (they won the championship) and headed home. Sat with his favourite doggy at night. Had a drink or two. Went to bed and, poof. That was it. Talk about one and done. My hat’s off to you again, Cow.

With Chris, it wasn’t so simple. She was a complex character and pretty much kept to herself. I had seen her a few times in the last 20-30 years, but not recently. The CBC group (led by our leader, John Nicolson) meets every three months at a Swiss Chalet in upper mid-town Toronto just to stay current with one another. I have been to one of those to-gathers and will try again.

The point I am making is, wait for it, we all have touch-points. Times and events in the past stand out, and you would give anything to go back to, just for one night to experience it again. But you can’t. So the memory is all you have. So treasure those memories. Stay in touch with the ones who meant so much to you in the past. And take the time to go see them or get together for a brief spell. If you don’t, you might get a call one day telling you maybe you should have.

For the record, the one I was talking about was Christine Lemieux. I want her name to live on. She was cool, and so was Glen. Way Cool.