Moments D265: Diving In

Tonight I picked up my car (a day earlier than expected) and then met up with an ex-staff member of mine for dinner. I often thing of this creative soul fondly. He’s a brilliant artist (music, painting, drawing, graphic design) and my company was lucky to have had his inspiring thoughts around us for a long as we did.

He holds a special spot in my heart. Not only because of his brilliance and our shared perspective on life, but because he was the first to ever introduce me to anyone as his boss. That day is firmly etched in my brain.

A group of us from work had gone to see his band play. He introduced me to his girlfriend and his band mates. I was flattered and uncomfortable all at the same time as my own role with our company had only recently shifted. It was strange to be considered as anyone’s boss.

That was ages ago.

Now, he’s moved up the ladder with his skill set and his ambition takes him back to school for graduate studies. His eagerness to learn and his drive for perfection has never been lost on me. I was always proud of him even when he doubted (and still does) himself.

I was barely in the restaurant for 2 minutes and we literally dove into life and deep questions. I think my first question was “Are you done with your application?” Good! ”How are you and how’s your girlfriend.” And we were off and running. It’s been a long time since we’ve had an opportunity to speak to each other without being rushed. Before either of us knew, hours had passed.

We managed to touch upon the depth of relationships. True love versus contentment. Defining happiness (as if we really could!) The idea of wanting to be alone, but also wanting someone to push through that stubbornness in times of need to just hold you when you need it. (But don’t ever tell us it will be “okay”, when you don’t know it will be.)

We spoke of career paths and path changing decisions in life and then we dove in deeper and spoke of Christopher Hitchens and mortality and family. Then we laughed and realized just how deep we had gone!

Sometimes there are people in your life that you may not see for months, possibly years at a time. But when you reconnect, it’s like you’ve never parted. This creative soul is one of the few that fall into that world for me. Never a moment of pause, never grasping for conversation, just an ebb and flow of information shared.

As much as I know I’ve helped to influence this once green artist and career man, I hope he realizes just how much his perspective on life has influenced me as well. We may be decades apart in age, and lifetimes apart in experience, but we have this common perspective on life. It’s interesting and something that inspires both ways.

So today’s moment: Dive in. Why not? Life is short not to ask the deep questions.