The Storyteller

The Storyteller

“Serendipity is looking for something and finding something else, only to realize
that what you found is more valuable than what you were looking for.”
Lawrence Block

A long while ago, before I was married, I flew to Texas to give a speech, or more accurately, three speeches in Houston, Plano and San Antonio. Lynda Daniel, a good friend of mine in the insurance business, convinced me that I should come down to Texas to speak. Lynda’s idea was that I should speak on how to sell disability insurance, as I was having great success with it. She also suggested that I could hang out with another mutual friend of ours, Matt Davis, and see what he was up to and that I might learn something from him as well.

I didn’t know that Lynda hadn’t mentioned it to Matt or anyone else in Texas when she invited me. But, being Lynda, she arranged the whole thing and, wow, was she right! I learned plenty that has benefited me and many others since.

Matt Davis and I first met and became friends in “Career School.” That’s where the insurance companies send you for some training, once they think you might make it. We did. And not only did Matt become one of my best friends, but we also formed a four-guy study group that just celebrated our twenty-sixth annual meeting together. I have been blessed immeasurably by my friendship and meetings with Matt, Kevin Mullane and Marc Byrnes.

When I flew into Dallas to give the last speech, I arrived just in time to attend the dinner of a gigantic charitable golf tournament. There must have been a couple of thousand people in the room, none of them feeling any pain after a long day on the course. That was good because, when the charity auction started, the room was still in full roar. No one was paying any attention to the auctioneer but me and someone way across the room.

The first item up, by artist Dori Radin, was an original terra cotta sculpture called, “The Storyteller.” I absolutely loved it and outbid the hand with the paddle on the other side of the room.

It was a prophetic moment in my life, though I didn’t know it at the time. This was years before I had children or told a single story. That little ole’ trip to Texas led to hundreds of great opportunities but none more valuable than the time spent with my kids, telling stories.

Thank you, Lynda, for all the above. I will always appreciate your kind invitation to come to Texas to teach, and in doing so learning so much more myself.