This is Part 2 of a three-part installment from a talk given by Jack Morrone, Principal and Co-Founder of One Financial Services, promoting two of several non-profits prominent in his life.
This is a story in three parts…
First was, The Last Time, where I introduced you to my wonderful family. Now I’ll share Someone I Don’t Know Yet. And finally, The Airport.
In between, I’m going to tell you about the good work done by The Miracle League and LifePath, the importance of watching trains and The Breakfast Club.
Someone I Don’t Know Yet
There’s a great quote by Coach Jim Valvano that says: “If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.” My son, Dominic lights up a room. And, he loves going to Ruby Tuesday to watch videos on their Wi-Fi or have my wife take pictures of him with the waitresses. In his world he’s having a full day, and being supported by Mom and Dad will only stop when we’re no longer around.
The fact is Leslie and I are no longer twenty-eight and just starting our lives. If we pay enough attention to our health, there’s a very good chance that ten years from now when we’re sixty-three and sixty we’ll be able to support thirty-five year old Anthony and thirty year old Dominic. And with luck, when we’re in our seventies and the boys reach their forties, we’ll still be able to care for their needs. But, it’s very unlikely I’ll be able to do what I’m doing now when we’re in our eighties. And, someone I don’t know yet will fulfill the same role for my boys that Leslie I are doing today.
Because all the full days that make up a full life in a typical family, a child grows to adulthood and develops their own preferences including the kinds of experiences they want to keep in their life. For instance, my father is seventy-nine and he chooses to go to Williams Restaurant twice a week to meet up with his alumni group and another alumni group of my deceased mother. My father and his friends meet on Wednesdays and they always get clams. Some other Sunday, once a month, he goes out for dinner. He’s an independent man who’s choosing the life experiences he wants to participate in.
My boys are not independent. However, it’s Leslie’s and my desire to keep their lives as full of life experiences as possible. And, in that fullness there are some typical experiences, like Dominic is attending Parkland High School. Still, in eighteen months when he turns twenty-one, this life experience will end. So, I wonder when else in my son’s life will he have access to a community of four thousand people every day? And, this is something as a father, I must persevere through, advocate for, work for free doing - in the hope that I’m heard as we rely on resources that may or may not be available in venues that may or may not be accommodating to Dominic and Anthony’s needs.
Someone I don’t know yet will probably be taking Dominic to Strasburg Railroad two or three times a year. We’ve been going to see the trains multiple times a year for the last fifteen years. Everyone gets a hug. People remember Dominic, who has become the Ambassador for Strasburg Railroad, and everyone is glad to see him.
He waves enthusiastically at every train as if it’s the first time he saw it; it’s a beautiful thing to experience.
It’s beautiful in comparison to the people who struggle to appreciate these same moments they too, could be enjoying with their children. As for me, it’s a gift when I can just go there and sit and watch my son have fun instead of stressing about it all except for those moments when I’m worrying about who’s going to take Dominic to see the trains when I’m not…because he loves it. And, at the end of the day I cherish going upstairs to tuck my boys in bed. Every night I tell them they’re good boys, that Pop-Pop and I love them; it’s a beautiful moment. Someone, I hope, is still whispering in their ear when I no longer can.
Someone, I hope, is still whispering in their ear when I no longer can.
Someday, I won’t be showing up and someone will need to share the news of my death with Anthony and Dominic. Will it be communicated gently, with kindness and compassion? I hope so. Maybe it will be my wife sharing the news. Will they understand it? And, when the time comes when the second of us passes, who will be the deliverer of that news?
There was a Lehigh Valley Live internet article about movie theaters. But it wasn’t the article that caught my eye so much as it was the announcement of the movie called The Breakfast Club. The theme song, Don’t You (Forget About Me), by Simple Minds, was released in 1985 and hit number 1 on US Billboard Hot 100.
In Part III of this three-part installment, you’ll see how a Billboard Hot 100 hit and getting stranded can help to remind you of what’s important, and what you can do to make a difference in the lives of others.
LifePath and Miracle League are not affiliated with LPL Financial.