A Personal Note

While many may consider my life an open book, I do keep some parts of it very private.

You've likely noticed a drop off in activity of late. It's due to a very demanding family matter related to my mother, who, at 87, is having some challenges.

Since late spring my wife and I have been shuttling across the USA to try to help mom and some matters have had to take a back seat. We've both been working our schedules around Mom's needs, burning up the hours and crossing the country on an almost weekly basis. To say the least, I've become an expert on airport WiFi, car rental rates and how to traverse the country while combining business with family. VoIP and Mobile technologies have become more than a deep interest, they've played a significant part for me at staying in touch. Even trapping a caller ID of a doctor's home phone, a trick I was able to employ to stop playing phone tag has been valuable to me, in order to stay on top of mom's situation in the ever shifting time zone world I live in.

As a result of all this I've had to juggle some public activities and regret that I won't be able to moderate this coming Wednesday at IT Expo. I've already recruited a worthy replacement and expect the panel to go as well as ever

One thing I've learned the past few months though is that family related matters have to always come first. There will be other IT Expos and panels to moderate, but there's only one Mom.

A few weeks ago, I had what I thought may have been the final talk with Mom. It may have been the hardest talk I ever had to make. I let her know she had raised a good son. One who was successful and respected. That the opportunities she and my late father gave me when I was younger have all borne fruit. I left feeling that at least she knew from my own mouth how much I had appreciated her and thankful I was. I honestly thought as I boarded a plane back to California that it may have been my last time seeing her.

But she rallied. My wife has been enormously helpful in helping mom and sharing the burden with me, so the business which as she says "pays for all this" can remain my focus.

It's great to have family that is supportive. Thank you for being supportive too.

Comments

[nicklaz]

i've been reading your blog for the past few month. i've noticed that your posts seemed to slow down lately but had no idea why. my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

[Team Forrest]

Every now and then a post comes along that you never expected-- one that really touches the reader and lets them start the day with a much needed (and better) perspective.

Thank you for this post and my thoughts will be with you and your family.