Adventures of the New Carol: Was he a nice man?

Next week will mark the fourth anniversary of Paul's passing. Memories always come flooding back this time each year, but I can hardly remember his painful days any longer. My mind skips back to the times he crashed through life with all the zest of a herd of wild mustangs; planes, trains and fast automobiles, a career he loved, a family he'd take bullets for, his love for me and his dog....or, possibly his dog and then me:)

I won't bore you with a lengthy dissertation of the talents or faults, he had plenty of each. I will, however, tell of one occurrence the evening after his funeral service. Take notes, this is important.

Friends Claudia and Peter from Chicago stopped by the house. It had been a long day but there would be no rest for me and I was happy to be surrounded by people who cared so much. The out of town friends staying at the house thankfully said good night and kindly passed me off to new keepers of the widow. The day had been no picnic for them, either.

Claudia is the diva grandmother of Austin, who was about 7 at the time. She had explained she and Peter were Des Moines to attend the funeral of a friend. She told of the accomplishments of Paul, things that might impress a kid, like, he was successful in business, flew airplanes, drove fast cars, rode motorcycles, had lots of remote control model airplanes that he flew at the private runway of his country home.

After telling of all the neat things she thought might sound cool to a kid, Austin simply asked ......

"But was he a nice man?"

The innocence and insightfulness of his question made her pause. After a second, she replied, "yes, he was a very nice man." Isn't it interesting all that seemed to matter to Austin was simply that?

Stop and ponder. When push comes to shove, after all we do in pursuit of happiness, ask yourself if someday a little boy will ask, not what you did, what you accomplished nor what your net worth was, but instead, will being nice be a leading quality of your legacy?

So, be good, be kind, don't dwell on the bad and most of all, be nice. It obviously matters to a child.

Snapshots of a nice man............