Happy Sunday Everyone:
I’ve talked about Kyle R. before. He’s one of the top loan officers in our division, he runs a killer branch, but more than anything, he’s one of the better humans I’ve come across. He and his wife are the kind of people who have two natural daughters and then adopt two other daughters who they fell in love with while trying to provide a better foundation while supporting foster care children. Everything Kyle does is from a servant’s heart. The guy flat out makes me want to be better!
I received a call from Kyle on Friday morning while driving. Although it was work related, he was excited to share with me his morning breakfast celebrating his dad’s 70th birthday. I don’t know Kyle’s dad, but I have a feeling Kyle turned out the way he did because of his dad, not in spite of him. The admiration he has for him is big. Kyle has correlated his own feelings of his dad to the same I have for mine throughout the years in our talks and reading these Sunday Thoughts.
Kyle was giving me a background on the breakfast. His dad loves watches. He’s collected them for 40 years. When I say collect, we’re talking Casio’s, Timex, Seiko, etc.. I’m not suggesting there is anything wrong with these brands, but they aren’t considered high end watches. Kyle wasn’t laughing about the collection but was clear that although his dad loved watches, he would never consider treating himself to a high-end watch, it’s just not him. 5 years ago, Kyle started thinking about the idea of treating his dad to something special to honor him for all that he’s done in his life. 5 year later was this past Friday and that something special was a Rolex. Kyle gave me a play by play, his dad opening the wrapping paper, as soon as he saw the Green Box his dad immediately started weeping uncontrollably. Kyle explaining the joy of witnessing his dad opening this gift far exceeded his dad’s own joy of receiving it.
I texted Kyle yesterday and asked if I could write about our conversation and the watch. He gave me the thumps up but wanted to chat with me to give more context. We talked yesterday for a bit about the bigger points, which I wanted to share.
- Giving is better than receiving. This has absolutely nothing to do with the material event of buying a nice watch. Nothing wrong with nice things but Kyle wouldn’t treat himself to a watch like this, but he’d do anything to honor someone that has meant so much to him by giving them something they wouldn’t give themselves. I think you’re on the right track when you’d treat someone else to something you wouldn’t treat yourself to.
- If you’re a parent, are you raising your kids with a foundation that makes them want to honor you? This is a bigger question than a quick read on a Sunday. I would also suggest if you’re not, switch, it’s never too late. “In spite of parents” can turn into “because of parents”.
- Kyle mentioned a comment yesterday when we were talking that he had heard from someone else, “don’t work to retire, work to retire your parents”. This story works for Kyle and his situation, but anyone can swap out “parents” for anything that is important to us outside of ourselves. The idea of going to work every day for a cause, a person, a team, whatever is important to you is a far greater motivator than going to work to have more when you retire. I understand not everyone has this luxury of finding your motivators outside of survival, but many people reading this, do.
I’m grateful for Kyle sharing this story with me. Makes me want to be more intentional in showing my gratitude for the people who’ve been so good to me. None of it needs to be material (Kyle would be the first person to tell you that), but people that have had a positive impact in your life deserve to know it.
Have a great rest of your Sunday!