Beware -Another non-security story. Last week I wrote a story about my son Landon and how proud I was about his experience in baseball.  I used a Yiddish word that I learned from my Grandmother - naches.  As I have gotten older I have developed a deeper admiration and respect for the inherent wisdom that my Grandmother brought to life and the many things I learned from her.  I remember being younger and thinking she was a little bit meshuguna as she would say. But as I now realize she was crazy as a fox and I hope I can be only half as intuitively smart as she was.  She had an intuitive grasp of people and life that cannot be learned in books.  People who think I am outgoing and loud would think me quiet and shy in comparison to her. But enough about my grandma, let me get on with the story. 

One of the phrases she used to use that I would laugh at was, "my grandson, you never know whose tomorrow it will be".  I was never quite sure what that meant, but had enough of the general gist that I didn't question her.  Today again I heard my Grandmother talking to me and saying that very phrase.  I had contacted an old business partner of mine who I had not spoken to in 3 or 4 years. I knew he had season tickets to the Yankees and wanted to buy a couple of tickets to take my sons to the Stadium in this its last year.  My old partner "Bob" called me back this morning, very early not realizing I was out in California.  Of course I asked how he was and he replied that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a while ago. He has undergone surgery and is receiving chemo at Sloan-Kettering Memorial, but the prognosis is not good.  Bob is just a few years older than me and his youngest child is just 10 years old.  I have known Bob for 20 years.  He was always the kind of guy who did the right thing.  A good family guy, he grew up like I did on the Long Island-Queens border in NY from working class parents. He worked hard and bought a house in Westchester County for  his wife, children and he.  He lived the American dream, working hard and passing on to his children the best of what he knew. What are you supposed to say to someone who tells you this?  Are there any words that provide comfort?  Is going to a frigging Yankee game relevant here?  Of course you try to be brave for their sake.  You say things like "they are doing so much with that disease now.  Keep your head up, attitude is important."  Maybe most of all, I will pray for you. How cruel is fate that this good, decent human being has been chosen to suffer from this death sentence of a disease at such a young age?  Of course Bob is not alone. Unfortunately I know too many good people who have been stricken with terminal illnesses well before their time here should be done.

I was speaking to a friend/family member the other day about the breakup of his marriage and I told him life is rarely what we think it is going to be.  Making lemonade out of lemons seems to be the ultimate and eternal human condition. It also drives home my grandmother's inherent intelligence.  You never know whose tomorrow it will be.  I get it now, you never know for whom the bell tolls.  All we can do is enjoy the good moments that God, fate or whatever grants us, because in an instant that can all be taken away and our lives changed forever.  Bob is in my prayers and I hope for a miracle for him and others who have to face similar challenges. Lesson to you all enjoy the moment, cause you never do know whose tomorrow it will be.

Non-Security post to follow, stop reading now if not interested.  According to Wikepedia the Yiddish or Jewish word naches means: feeling of pride in the achievements of one's children.  Growing up, my grandmother used to use this word all the time to describe the joy she felt whenever my siblings or I would do anything noteworthy.  As I grew up I tended to put this word into the pile of other obscure Yiddish words that my grandmother used.  When she passed away I didn't really know anyone else who spoke the language and I began to forget them.  My mother-in-law used Yiddish words like that as well and I learned some more from her, but when she passed away too, that was pretty much the end of my learning the language.  Today I got an up close and personal lesson on the the meaning of naches. 

As I have written about before my oldest son Landon's (8) baseball team is having a tough season. We have not won one game all season. In fact in many of the games we are not even competitive.  I had moved Landon up to this level of play even though he is a year or more younger than most of the other kids in the league.  The level below though was one he was in for two years and made the all star team last year.  So we moved up to kid pitch and took our chances.  Landon started off slow with the rest of the kids on the team. However, he kept working and has been pitching and playing 2b and SS most of the year.  He has also been working on his hitting.

While most of the kids on our team have shown steady improvement, Landon has really come in to his own.  Not only in raw baseball skills but in situational awareness of the finer points of baseball (knowing when to throw and where).  In today's game our other two pitchers were not at the game. I had Landon pitch the whole game.  He did great, making a bunch of great plays in the field.  He also had three hits, each time picking up an RBI.  He hit the ball hard each time. We lost again, but it was a close game.

At the end of the game, both the umpire and the coach of the other team came over and not knowing Landon was my son told me that he was a great player and the best player on the field.  Last game the coach of the first place team came over to tell me when he picks the all star team to play travel ball, he wants to pick Landon on his team.  After all these years (like the title of my blog), I finally have learned what my Grandmother meant by the word naches!  I am really proud of Landon and all that he is accomplishing in baseball.

Non-Security post to follow, stop reading now if not interested.  According to Wikepedia the Yiddish or Jewish word naches means: feeling of pride in the achievements of one's children.  Growing up, my grandmother used to use this word all the time to describe the joy she felt whenever my siblings or I would do anything noteworthy.  As I grew up I tended to put this word into the pile of other obscure Yiddish words that my grandmother used.  When she passed away I didn't really know anyone else who spoke the language and I began to forget them.  My mother-in-law used Yiddish words like that as well and I learned some more from her, but when she passed away too, that was pretty much the end of my learning the language.  Today I got an up close and personal lesson on the the meaning of naches. 

As I have written about before my oldest son Landon's (8) baseball team is having a tough season. We have not won one game all season. In fact in many of the games we are not even competitive.  I had moved Landon up to this level of play even though he is a year or more younger than most of the other kids in the league.  The level below though was one he was in for two years and made the all star team last year.  So we moved up to kid pitch and took our chances.  Landon started off slow with the rest of the kids on the team. However, he kept working and has been pitching and playing 2b and SS most of the year.  He has also been working on his hitting.

While most of the kids on our team have shown steady improvement, Landon has really come in to his own.  Not only in raw baseball skills but in situational awareness of the finer points of baseball (knowing when to throw and where).  In today's game our other two pitchers were not at the game. I had Landon pitch the whole game.  He did great, making a bunch of great plays in the field.  He also had three hits, each time picking up an RBI.  He hit the ball hard each time. We lost again, but it was a close game.

At the end of the game, both the umpire and the coach of the other team came over and not knowing Landon was my son told me that he was a great player and the best player on the field.  Last game the coach of the first place team came over to tell me when he picks the all star team to play travel ball, he wants to pick Landon on his team.  After all these years (like the title of my blog), I finally have learned what my Grandmother meant by the word naches!  I am really proud of Landon and all that he is accomplishing in baseball.