This was originally posted on LinkedIn. Above all, death sucks. Point blank.

“Showing up” this past weekend was quite tough for me.  The intersection between the professional portion and private portion of my life got tangled.

In this case, the intersection was a bit crowded on the “private street”. While the “professional street” was not very active.

My dear friend, Wes, died on 7/20/2021 and his family planned several events for anyone to attend from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon.

I’m not good with death, and death, despite my time in uniform.  Maybe that was why the weekend was tough for me.  Maybe it’s more than that. 

I “showed up” to honor Wes despite my hesitancy.  I showed up to celebrate Wes based on the expressed wishes of his wife and family, to share how he had positively impacted my life, for the better.

This is not the way I prefer to be reminded of how short life is and how I should make the most of every day. 

As an Agile coach and scrum master, I was reminded that I should seek to improve the lives of the team member I serve so that they can “show up” and do their best work.