My cousin E_____ died more than ten years ago. He was known in the family as Poor E______, a name coined by his mother, my aunt. E____ started out life on top. He was tall, good looking, very nice and very personable. He was, I am sure, I big man on campus, high school and college. He drove a convertible, he married a very cute girl and had two children, he had two ladies clothing stores (including one in a suburb that was very trendy), and a nice house in the suburbs. His businesses failed and he was not able to develop another, his wife left him and he did not get remarried, he lost his house and became a renter, and his health went. Generous and nice and friendly to the end, devoted to his family and particularly his mother and widowed aunt, he died at a relatively early age, a shadow of his earlier years.
My friend A________ died last week. I first knew him when he was married, owned (with a partner) a successful mortgage company, and looked like he was positioned to go through life (relatively) problem free. Then, as I remember it, his partner died, his business failed because his partner’s widow demanded half of the assets, his wife left him, and his first and only real estate development forced him into bankruptcy when, mid-construction and after all required regulatory approvals had been obtained, the Army Corps of Engineers decided he was building on wetlands and immediately required all work to come to a halt. It took him a while to recover from the financial and emotional shock, but throughout he remained generous and nice and friendly and devoted to his three children and elderly mother. Then his health failed as well and, just a few years older that Poor E_____ was when he died, Poor A________ died.
Poor A_______ and Poor E_________. What is the lesson here?
