Waves of Life

Thoughts About our Friend Don Mueller

Where you meet someone can make all the difference.

I met Don on a bicycle, going up a hill, both our shoulders sagging under the effort. Age did not matter. Career didn’t. Where you lived or what you had. None of it. It was the effort, the focus, the comradery that can only come from shared endeavor–competitive and friendly alike that leaves each of you drained.

Where you go together matters more still.

I was lucky for the many days of friendship that followed, not just the hours on the bike together but the way our lives began to overlap. Whether on the road, on a run, with a glass of wine, in a conference room . . . The Don Mueller emerged. Here are a few of the lessons that I took away . . .

– You only get someplace by effort. One day, one week, one month, one year, one decade. If you haven’t put in the miles, the race is already gone.

So, put in the effort.

– Everybody fails sometimes, sometimes small and sometimes big. The problem, though, is often you just don’t realize it until it is long past. After others have been hurt. After you’ve hurt yourself. All in ways you never thought possible.

So, try to come clean, even if just a bit. Make amends when you can; how you can, even to yourself. And pay more attention going forward.

– We all have a role. Sometimes you’re a star, most of the time a member of the chorus. They all matter, and they are all just as important

– Barry Sullivan