The Gift of Time

It's not the long, flowing dress that you're in
Or the light coming off of your skin
The fragile heart you protected for so long
Or the mercy in your sense of right and wrong
It's not the way you talk me off the roof
Your questions like directions to the truth

I am a lucky man. I have a great life. I live in a nice home. I have three wonderful children and some of the best friends a guy could ever dream of. I guess one could say I am living the dream. I have a wonderfully rewarding career. After all, how many can say that they have worked in the same place with many clients for over 20 years. Summit Financial has provided me with a platform to design and build my own practice, the way I want to build it. My work affords me the blessings of being surrounded and supported by a group of intelligent, talented, and humane colleagues and clients. In fact, I had a client email me recently to tell me about his latest endeavor and in his conclusion, he said, “Anyway, this retirement project is brought to you by Summit Financial and Armstrong Advisors. This is what happens when people can realize their dreams and aspirations and still have a wife that’s OK with it all. This project is the first time I can say that because I’m doing what I love, I’m busy as all get-out, but I ain’t working.”

 
If we were vampires and death was a joke
We'd go out on the sidewalk and smoke
And laugh at all the lovers and their plans
I wouldn't feel the need to hold your hand

I reiterate, I am a lucky man, and I haven’t even gotten to the best part. For that, I will need to go back to April 27th, 1985, the day I went out with my future wife for the first time. We are high school sweethearts and life partners for nearly 37 years at this point. We have accomplished great things together and our lives are still evolving. We have so much more to do, to see and to achieve. I look forward to the journey, it drives me, it drives us. Kathy and I have also lived through long, debilitating illnesses with three parents and the darkness and eventual light of childhood cancer with our Megan. Like everyone, we have spent a great deal of time together over the past two years. For Kathy, possibly too much time! You see, time is a gift and if it were limitless, it would not be. Sand on the beach versus sand in the hourglass, time is our most valuable asset as a family.  

Maybe time running out is a gift
I'll work hard 'til the end of my shift
And give you every second I can find
And hope it isn't me who's left behind

 As an advisor to so many amazing families over the past two decades, I have had a front row seat in the seminar of life. Each day has provided unique, invaluable life lessons. Each passing year has forged bonds that have afforded me the luxury of a wonderful extended family. Family that I will forever hold dear and aim to serve and support to the very best of my ability. You see, life is busy and complex and these families understand the benefit of working with an advisor who is supported by a team of professionals across a variety of disciplines that enable them to get and keep their financial house in order. Not in a reactive way but in a proactive and comprehensive fashion. And what is the result of having a coordinated, comprehensive plan? Time! Time to be present for those you love, time hold them close and to chart a personal, purpose filled path forward.

It's knowing that this can't go on forever
Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone
Maybe we'll get forty years together
But one day I'll be gone Or one day you'll be gone

Like it or not, the sand passing through the hourglass is on its own schedule, its own clock. While we cannot completely control it, we can insulate it, care for it, and manage its risk. We can, with careful thought, plan and execute some degree of certainty to a very uncertain time and place. We can plan proactively and take your dreams out of your head or off your Excel spreadsheet and make them a living and breathing legacy that will withstand the test of time. Now, please go back and read this once more with the song playing. There is a handy link below.

Written by: Rob Armstrong
Inspired By: Kathy Armstrong
A Beautiful Version: Live from Here, January 26, 2019
Source: LyricFind
Songwriter: Michael Jason Isbell
If We Were Vampires lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing