Every once in a while, someone you know writes a book. And when that someone is a friend, there's a natural inclination to tell people about it.
In my last full-time job as a digital marketing guy for a B2B software company, I worked from home with a global crew. That job ran on Skype, and caused me to quickly realize I could never work in an office again. One of the people I worked with was a sales person named Larry Walsh.
Larry and I often spoke via Skype about baseball (he was a White Sox fanatic), life and how things at this company could be improved. He was older than I was, so I felt I had a lot to learn from his experience. I enjoyed my years working with Larry and was sad to say goodbye in 2018.
But I don't want to recommend a book simply because I know the guy who wrote it. I want to recommend it because there's something worthwhile inside.
That's why I want to tell you about Larry Walsh Sr.'s Trusting the Universe: Life Lessons.
It's a collection of stories from Larry's life, and the lessons he's taken from them. Growing up in a big Irish family on Chicago's South Side, learning from his older brother, navigating the ups and downs of family life, building a career, making mistakes, and figuring things out along the way.
What I like about the book is that Larry doesn't pretend he had everything figured out. Quite the opposite. Many of the lessons come from experiences he didn't fully understand at the time.
There's a story about his older brother Jim, who took him along on his early-morning paper route, bought him his first bicycle, and eventually helped him get his foot in the door of a career in computers. What might have seemed like ordinary acts of kindness at the time turned out to have a lasting impact on Larry's life.
That's one of the recurring ideas in the book: sometimes the things that shape us most don't look particularly significant when they're happening. We only recognize their importance years later.
Larry also writes about his father, who died when Larry was just 20. He reflects on the wisdom his father tried to pass along, and how much more clearly he understands those lessons now. There are stories about raising four children, his marriage, professional setbacks, personal growth, and the importance of recognizing the people who make a difference in our lives.
The book is full of reminders that are easy to agree with but sometimes difficult to practice: take responsibility, keep your dreams alive, don't be afraid to fail, listen when someone needs to be heard, and let people know they matter while you still have the opportunity.
I particularly like that last one.
Trusting the Universe: Life Lessons isn't a book that promises to change your life with some grand formula. It's one man's account of a life lived, mistakes made, people loved, and lessons learned.
And perhaps that's what makes it appealing. We all have our own collection of experiences that make more sense in retrospect. Larry has taken the time to share his.
I'm happy to give a friend's book a plug, especially when I think there's something here worth reading.
If you're interested in a thoughtful collection of personal stories about family, relationships, resilience, and the lessons life teaches us, give Larry Walsh Sr.'s Trusting the Universe: Life Lessons a look.
I'm glad he wrote it, and I'm glad I get to share it with you.
