The place where Iβm Head of Engineering is my biggest headline. Nearly 500k customers, $MMM in processing and revenue, small engineering team, and it feels like the EVALS days again - good people, real impact, actual smiles. Big announcement coming in February π€«
2026: SMILES X 1290320993930223 π
But, as the year ends, I'm reflecting back on my goals, one of which was to finish one of my books called "Climb More Trees". This is inspired by my mom and her mantra "live laugh make smiles be yourself" but is a "A poetic book about dealing with grief and loss".
My mom's example taught me to stop counting miles and start living. Climb more trees, be more spontaneous, enjoy nature, savor moments, laugh freely, smile and let go of sorrow. This is why I live with the desire to keep sewing blankets of memories.
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Tucked away in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long, long trip that almost spans the continent. Weβre traveling by passenger train, and out the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hills, of biting winter and blazing summer and cavorting spring and docile fall.
But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into the station. There will be bands playing, and flags waving. And once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true. So many wishes will be fulfilled and so many pieces of our lives finally will be neatly fitted together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering waiting, waiting, waiting, for the station.
However, sooner or later we must realize there is no one station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.
βWhen we reach the station that will be it!β we cry. Translated it means, βWhen Iβm 18, that will be it! When I buy a new Benz, that will be it! When I put the last kid through college, that will be it! When I have paid off the mortgages, that will be it! When I win a promotion, that will be it! When I reach the age of retirement, that will be it! I shall live happily ever after!β
Unfortunately, once we get it, then it disappears. The station somehow hides itself at the end of an endless track
Stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains and trees, eat more ice cream, go barefoot often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and and smile.
Life must be lived as we go along.
The station will come soon enough.
β€οΈ
Jake