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Let us call him Sam (not his real name)...and both my wife and myself called at his gigantic home some years ago to discuss
property management of another of his many projects. An older
and thin maid answered the door and ushered us into a small room where cookies sat on a coffee table. We were told that Sam would be along shortly. The home looked more like the combination of a church and a business office. Spiral staircase.
Many old and likely valuable paintings hung on the wall. While
waiting I suggested to my wife we try the cookies. Well, you
would need a hammer to tenderize these critters, looks like they had been sitting a long long time. So much for cookies.
Finally Sam walked in, or should I say limped in with canes in both hands. He immediately let us know that cancer would soon take over his life and carefully articulated the reason for our visit having something to do with signing management papers for another acquision, this being a complex with about 120
units. The phone rang and Sam answered. He instructed whoever was calling to go ahead on completing a purchase of
a condo in some exotic place (Florida?) and later told us this was
a condo for a relative that he decided to buy. Buy buy buy. That
was the story of the life of Sam. And now in his eighties and
slowly watching life fade away....Sam was yet adding to his many acquisitions.
Sam died not too long after the visit. Cancer took over where
dreams stopped.
And you could not help but question and wonder....who is rich?
What is rich? What really does that word mean. It might
conjure up ideas of jet planes and palm trees but in reality
as Dad used to say, the rich and poor both put on their pants
the same way.
However Sam left me with a thought and that was...he just
enjoyed the game. To buy, to acquire was his thing. And he did
it well. And showed off his wealth in a quiet way.
We drove by the castle recently and thought about Sam. Is he
busy with his buildings in his new home...in that distant and
secret place we call heaven?