Funerals & Births

It's been an eventful week so far - I've been to 2 funerals and Lisa Burke our Practice Manager had a baby boy on Friday. I'm absolutely delighted for her and her husband and can't wait to meet their baby. But I'm also feeling incredibly sad for Dave Maharaj's Mum & Dad. Dave died last week aged 39 and I really can't imagine what they must be going through. He had two young children as well which is pretty awful for them but I really think that as a parent it must create a void that's impossible to fill. Now that I have two young children I probably have a fleeting thought every day about them pre-deceasing me and it really is my worst fear.

Dave was a super guy, friend and colleague and he's the one responsible for introducing me to Financial Services, getting me my first job with NM Schroders in 1993 straight after University. Judging from the number of people and the speeches made on Thursday he'll be missed by a lot of people and I'll be one of them.

Mrs N (i'm not hiding her name - that's what she was called!) died aged 94 and as the wife of the head of Bishton's School in Staffordshire she's clearly had a lasting and positive influence on many children, parents and others over the last 66 years of her working life - yes she worked for 66 years!

I'm not sure if I'm alone here but going to funerals makes me think about how I'm living my life, how I'd like to be remembered, am I the person I could / should be, do I do enough in the community and other elements that might make for an enviable obituary. This week's been no different although I'm still not sure about the answers to any of them. I'm off to get some sleep now so I can get up early and spend the day with my family.