I’ve had a tough time with focus as I start a new year and I’d guess I have plenty of company. Energy isn’t the issue, I’m very excited about business and personal growth prospects for 2018. It’s just that every day I think about someone and a circumstance I can’t change.

My dear friend Tom Regensburger passed away on the evening of Thursday, January 4. Tom and I were Evans Scholars together at Miami University and close friends for more than 35 years. Tom had battled some health issues in 2017 and had been able to work from home while recuperating over the holidays. On that Thursday morning he fired up the laptop and was making progress on several assignments but began to feel worse as the day went on. By that evening he was in the ER where they diagnosed pneumonia in both lungs and proceeded to attempt to intubate him. His heart stopped in the ER and they revived him but when it stopped again in the ICU they could not revive him a second time. Tom was only 55 and leaves behind a wife, a step-daughter and her fiance’, and two sons – an 8th grader and a 6th grader.

Fortunately for me I believe that in the latter part of 2017 while Tom was battling those health issues I did have my focus in the right place, at least periodically. We corresponded via email missives regarding our monthly 3-club golf outings. We talked at some length following an event that had him hospitalized over the Thanksgiving holiday and we texted each other around Christmas and made plans about picking him up to go watch a football game after the beginning of the new year.

So while focus is indeed hard stuff, I encourage you to spend time focused on cherishing and nurturing those relationships that matter most to you. I’m still sad every day when I think about Tom but I’m comforted to know Tom and I both invested in our relationship.