Just a little more than seven years ago on November
12, 2006 my good friend, Rob Cahill, came to my house to have a
conversation about my life calling. He brought questions that
established a personal and spiritual context. We talked for four
hours and recorded the whole thing. I was babysitting my eight-year-old
son, Gabriel, who uncharacteristically played quietly while we
spoke.
Yesterday Rob returned for a similar conversation. Again we recorded
our talk. As luck would have it, Gabe showed up - now fifteen - and
took a central role. Here we were: three men sitting in my office to
reflect on life's deeper meaning. Rob took us out of the mundane and
into the sacred deftly introducing frameworks that reveal universal
patterns without compromising individual nuance.
As I reflected on what had become clear to me since we last met and
shared my insights Rob asked Gabe what he thought about what he was
hearing. Gabe responded, "It's not like listening to my father. I don't
feel so much in the father-son role. It's more like a boy-to-man
relationship now, like a mentoring."
How often do we have the chance to step outside our day-to-day
responsibilities and relationships with the people who are most
important to us? And yet, this is what makes for special times, times
when we have the chance to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and take a more
expansive view of what matters most. How do we introduce these
kinds of moments, these types of opportunities so that we can see each
other from a different perspective and develop increased appreciation
and depth for the souls that are so dear to us? One way is to have
someone like Rob show up, every seven years if you can arrange it.
there's nothing
more intimate in life than simply being understood. and understanding
someone else.
- Brad Meltzer
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