
Lessons From a Visit Home
My mom flew me home to Winston-Salem this past Thursday because she was scheduled to have a colonoscopy and would need help driving around and taking care of my sister.
Thankfully, I had a significant amount of vacation days saved up at work, so I was able to make the trip. However, it didn’t start off much like a vacation.
As soon as the first flight in my series of two landed in Dallas, I did that thing where I immediately turned my phone off Airplane Mode and checked what I missed in the whole hour and a half I was in the air.
Distracted by a troubling email, I walked off my flight without the duffel bag I originally brought on. I only had a short layover in Dallas, so I rushed to my next flight only to realize once I got on that I had left my bag in the overhead bin on my previous flight.
You can imagine my reaction went a little something like this:
I immediately filed a Lost & Found Report only to find out later that there’s a small chance they actually recover your lost bag (update: they still haven’t found it). As I look back on this moment, I have to laugh. How did I walk off my flight without any sense that I was missing something?
This brings me to my first lesson from the weekend:
Don’t take yourself seriously.
My mom picked me up from the airport, and she was kind enough to take me to the mall and help me replenish the clothes and toiletries I lost. She even pushed back her colonoscopy appointment, so we could spend more time together. And more time together is just what we got…
The next morning, I woke up to the faint sounds of, “Alex… I need you to take me to the hospital.” My mom was bent over the living room couch writhing in pain. I was scared. I got dressed as fast as I could, and, after my mom finished throwing up in the sink, I drove her to the hospital.
My mom was experiencing nausea and really sharp pains in her stomach. As we got her into the emergency room, I felt completely helpless. I had no idea what could be going on, and I didn’t know how to help her. I just knew I couldn’t leave. Right there in that moment, I was exactly where I needed to be.
We ended up staying at the hospital somewhere around six hours. It turns out my mom was trying to pass a kidney stone, which is why she was experiencing the sharp stomach pains. We left the hospital, and I spent the rest of the day running to and from Rite Aid to make sure she had everything she needed.
Although this “vacation” didn’t go the way I was planning, I’m really glad I didn’t make excuses when my mom asked me to come home. I got to be there when my mom really needed me and spend more time with her than I ever expected to.
This brings me to the second part of my first lesson:
Take the relationships in your life very seriously.
Don’t take yourself seriously, but take the relationships in your life very seriously.

At the end of the day, it won’t matter what I accomplished, how much money I made, or how many podcasts I was on. None of those things will be remembered. The value of my legacy will be found in how loved and valued the people closest to me felt.
Did I show up for them when they needed me most? Was I consistent? Did I celebrate their victories? Admit when I was wrong? Walk beside them — not in front of them? How often did I say, “I love you,” and follow those words with action?
That’s what I want to be about. And here’s the thing: I’m human. I make mistakes. So I’m not going to do these things perfectly, but that’s why it’s key that I don’t take myself seriously. Life isn’t meant to be controlled; it’s meant to be experienced. And I want to experience as much of this life as I can with the people I love. It’s too short not to.
