A Heartfelt Goodbye

by Ryan Krzykowski

A little over a week ago I made the drive from Kansas City to Ft. Worth, Texas.  My Uncle Len had passed at the age of 88, and I wanted to be there for his memorial and funeral service.  Uncle Len was my Dad’s oldest brother — they were over 17 years apart, and so they never really even lived in the same house.  During their adult lives they lived in completely different parts of the country.  Separated by age and distance, what they became over the past twenty years is pretty incredible.  Some time around 2003 my parents decided to take a cruise, and for some reason Uncle Len and Aunt Linda came along on the trip.  For the next couple decades these two couples traveled the world together — all over the Caribbean, South America, Europe, across the Atlantic, Australia, Hawaii, Alaska, the Panama Canal, even Antarctica.  Uncle Len was quite possibly my Dad’s best friend in the world, and watching that friendship grow over the years has been a joy to watch.  So there was no way I was going to miss that funeral.  I certainly wanted to honor Uncle Len, and I also felt it extremely important to be there for my Dad.

Then last week John O’Sullivan emailed a link to a post he recently wrote about his Dad, who passed away just over a month ago.  John beautifully shared his experience in the post entitled, “Saying Goodbye to my Coach, my Father, my Friend”.  Here’s a short excerpt:

Dad Allowed me to Learn the Harsh Lessons in Sports

Quite a few of the firemen told stories about how when they were first starting out, and they had to take the hose into their first burning building, my dad would stand behind them with a hand on the shoulder saying “I got your back, but you have to do this on your own.” He did that for us as kids growing up as well. He allowed us to mess up. He created the space for us to make mistakes and learn. And he did not intervene when we got benched, when we didn’t make a team, when a coach was being difficult. He taught us to go have an adult conversation from a very young age and to advocate for ourselves. He had our back but let us take the lead. That is a lesson that I use every day.

John, thanks for sharing your heart.  Uncle Len, we love you and miss you.

Let’s Coach With Purpose…