Life Is Short – Spend 2.7 Seconds On A bull Named Fu Man Chu

In 2004, shortly after his father’s death, Tim McGraw released the album “Live Like You Were Dying”.  The title track, dedicated to his father, was a message of living life to the fullest, and in the moment.  It was less than ten years before the release of that album that I met Leigh Ann Thomas-Zarrella, and believe me Leigh Ann taught that same exact lesson to everyone who knew her.  Only, she wasn’t a song on the radio, she was real.

I was working at Sony Music and there was an opening on my team.  My boss at the time had setup a meeting with a potential candidate.  He was interviewing her first, and wasn’t sure he would even want me to meet her.  About 40 minutes later he came into my office and said “Dude, I need you to meet her.  I want to hire her on the spot, but I want to make sure it’s not because she’s gorgeous.”

Just a minute later I was introduced to Leigh Ann.  The first thing you notice is that she is tall.  In heels she was looking me right in the eye.  She was dressed in a pant suit (almost like a purple in color), with her blond hair up, and wearing glasses.  And my boss was right, she was gorgeous.  But he was also right about that not being the reason why we hired her.  During our initial meeting, she was confident, she was funny, and most importantly, she was real.  When I joked about her Boston accent, she joked about my New York accent.  And a friendship was born.

Leigh Ann fit in well with the crew at Sony Music, and it didn’t take her long to get comfortable.  The Pant Suit was replaced by jeans, the hair was down, and the glasses were usually replaced by contacts.  But the person remained the same.  To say Leigh Ann loved music would be an understatement.  And to say Leigh Ann knew music would be an insult.  Here is an example.  By 2005 with re-orgs in Sony Leigh Ann was no longer working for me, but we were in the same organization, and we were still close.  In May 2005 Leigh Ann turned me onto a group named Kings of Leon.  Not weeks before the world heard of them.  Not months before.  About 4 years before the rest of the world got on board, Leigh Ann picked them out.  Maybe she shouldn’t have joined the IT team at Sony Music, but instead should have been sent out to identify new talent.

Here’s the thing.  That day in 2005 when Leigh Ann was giving me yet another lesson in music, she was a year into her battle with cancer.  A battle that after more than 6 years took her away from us this past Tuesday.  Over the past 6 years I’ve seen Leigh Ann drained, I’ve seen her beaten down, I’ve seen her with broken bones, I’ve seen her in pain.  But I never saw her give up.  Everyone who I’ve talked to the past few days agrees on one thing, none of us could have fought as hard for as long. 

This absolute bitch of a disease was tearing her body apart, but it couldn’t touch her spirit.  It couldn’t touch her soul.  It couldn’t touch who she was.  She insisted on working, getting into the office as often as she could, but at the very least getting online from home.  She never stopped being Leigh Ann. For example, Leigh Ann loved motor cycles.  She had done the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota.  She loved it.  So while fighting cancer, what did she do?  She bought herself a new bike of course.

She didn’t only love people, she loved animals.  She had a fish tank on her desk at work.  And while she was in a hospital bed she would make sure that someone was taking care of the fish.  While she is fighting for her life, she is working with a dog rescue, acting as a foster caretaker for many of them, including our current dog, Gracie, who we picked up from Leigh Ann’s house 2 years ago this Valentines day.

Long before Tim McGraw released his tribute to his dad, long before she had cancer, Leigh Ann lived life in the moment.  She did what made her happy.  She made other people happy.  Nobody should ever have to go through what Leigh Ann went through.  But everyone should live life the way she did.  When you think about it, doesn’t that make sense?  How many lessons do we need to be taught that life is short.  Haven’t we all learned by now that we need to live life to the fullest?  That being said, I have just one question, why don’t the rest of us do it?

As always, until next time, stay safe!

later,
dan

"My karma tells me, You've been screwed again! If you let them do it to ya, you've got yourself to blame! It's you who feels the pain! It's you who takes the shame!"