Friends of Dave #427: 🐮 rhythm of the cow🐄
The Life Changing Call -- Dad
Heads up Friends: only a few more parts left. If you missed it, here was Part 1, and Part 2 of this preamble story — the next chapter is below. Thanks again for reading along.
Part 3
Friends, when my Dad calls me, particularly out of the blue, I have come to expect it is about something serious.
He’s not a guy who will call up to just shoot the 💩….he leaves that sort of stuff to my mom.
No, my Dad usually has a plan or something specific on his mind that he needs to share when he calls someone. Always intentional, with a purpose, precise with his words.
That’s just how he is wired.
He’s always been that way. Thoughtful, organized and driven.
Starting around when he was about 10 or so he would earn money by getting up early each morning and riding his bike all over his hometown on Long Island delivering newspapers.
When he got to high school he was on the student council where he was voted president of this class. That’s where he met my mom, who was the class secretary.
They made an interesting couple — he was quiet, smart, kinda nerdy and starred on the chess team. She was loud, captain of the cheerleading squad and starred in all of the school’s plays.
He loved driving cars fast, listening to music and watching James Bond movies and she loved having a good time — especially with him. They both couldn’t wait to grow up, leave Long Island, and see what the world had to offer.
After high school my Dad moved 200 miles away to Upstate NY where he spent the next 4 years earning money hustling to make deals to buy old cars, fix them up and sell them. Aside from spending time with my mom, his other primary “hobby” was going full time to college initially to become an electrical engineer (which later turned into him switching to a new major they were offering: computer engineering).
School was clearly the side gig. It was no challenge — coming up with ways to make deals, make money, and hang out with his girlfriend was fun. He quickly figured out that his mild mannered nature combined with his analytical fast brain made him good at all of those things — and could take him far.
Armed with his degree, his knowledge about the new world of computing and a relentlessly entrepreneurial mindset, my Dad was ready to conquer the world beyond Long Island and Upstate NY. He married his high school sweetheart, who pledged to go on this journey with him wherever it took them, and together he and my mother set out to see what they would do.
I came along shortly afterward, as did my two sisters. My mom stayed home to manage all of us while my Dad was focused on making deals and moves that would give his family all of the things he wanted when he was growing up.
We traveled on airplanes.
We went on great family vacations.
We rode in the backseat of fast cars.
We saw many beautiful sunsets.
We listened to great music.
We swam, we skied, we saw Mickey Mouse.
All made possible, in large part, by the hard work and dedication my Dad put into executing the plans he formulated as a young man.
Forever the chess player, my Dad has an uncanny way to see not just what is in front of him but, more importantly, what can happen many moves down the road. He processes large amounts of information faster and more precisely than anyone I know — and, Friends, probably faster and more precisely than anyone YOU know.
As a result, his career took him in all directions — and we followed. Early on we almost moved from the Northeast to Australia. We then did end up moving to the Midwest, where he became an executive at a small computer consulting company by his early 30s. We then moved back to the Northeast where he ended up making a deal to own a part of the business (that was otherwise failing) that he could fix up and run himself.
And that’s just what he did.
Once again, he used his mild mannered nature, analytical fast brain and relentless entrepreneurial spirit to drive him to take a clunker of a company, make precise business moves, and find a way to lead a team of people to turn it around, polish it up and make it successful.
He closed a deal to sell the company before he was 50 years old.
Friends, I tell you all of this as context to the story — when my Dad sets his mind on something, he figures out a way to get it done. On his terms. With a calm focus, discipline and a precise plan.
So when he called me that November day when I was getting ready to get discharged from the hospital and said he too was in the hospital and had a “few things to share” with me, I knew it was serious.
And that there was another journey and plan to execute ahead.
TO BE CONTINUED……..
XOXO
Dave
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