Today I heard about the untimely death of a former co-worker, Willie Gilchrist. We worked together at Air Canada in the early nineties in the IT department. During that time personal computers were just starting to be used everywhere in the company and Willie was hired on contract to do support. It was a small team of young guys and me. We had so much fun! We worked hard and played pranks on each other and on some of our customers who were deserving … of course.
Willie joined IBM and moved from Montreal. I saw Willie a few years ago and we promised to reconnect but we didn’t. When I “retired” I promised myself I would reconnect with the people who I really like but have lost touch with. With some people, even though you’re not in touch, when you meet again it’s just like it was before and that was true of Willie and me. I wish I had reached out earlier but that’s on both of us.
The other aspect when we hear of such sadness particularly of someone younger (he was born in 1963 which made him 48 or 49), is that it reminds us that time is running out fast for us too. It often seems as though an inordinate number of nice people die before their time. The assholes appear to have some kind of special protection from disease.
Willie was a gentle, hard-working, funny, decent human being who had a wife and a daughter who I’m sure will miss him terribly. The world is not a better place without Willie. All I can and will do is offer up a prayer for him and for his family.
Time and time and time again we are reminded that life is short and that today is all we have. So today I have already reached out to one long lost friend and I’m going to reach out to another by the end of the day. Meantime I’m putting down my work, taking the rest of the day off and going to play outside with my dogs!
Who will you reach out to today?
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