Version 2.0

I am sitting in the cardiac care wing of the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in my fashionable hospital gown, looking out the 9th floor window, reflecting. Last Thursday I had open heart surgery to repair two valves. While I have a several month recovery, it went well. I find that in the quiet of the night, laying in a hospital bed with more electronics than a NASA mission, post-surgery, the mind dreams near the surface of consciousness. In surgery, you are on devices that pump your blood and breath for you. As a generator guy, my last thought was about backup power. You have put total trust in the entire medical team. They are amazing. You think of family and the woman you love. You search your faith. You think about many things and realize the great value of what is important, the essentials that make life a life.

Why is it that we need to lose control to understand what matters? Laying in bed, unable to sit or go to the head without help. Trusting people you don’t know to stop and start your heart, but you will appreciate forever. You think about what you will change in version 2.0.

And that I think is the lesson in all this. I have been blessed, no question, but my values, deeds, and actions have been aligned as well as they could. Can I use time differently? Can I value things differently? Can I coach better? As I wrote previously, can I give and receive gratitude differently? There are many with deep challenges and needs. Can we answer their call as well as our own?

Thank you all, Jacqui, family, friends, community, and especially the stranger.