Robert Fromberg
Editor-in-Chief, HFMA
I’m on vacation this week, which is usually an occasion for my children to teach me lessons about how to be a better person. And while this may not be directly related to healthcare finance, it is related to all of our professional activities...at least I believe so.
In this case, my older son, who is ten, decided he wanted to stop at a bookstore, where he bought a small kit about how to do card tricks, which is something he had been trying to teach himself for some time. Later that evening, the skies were cloudy, it was raining off and on, and we had decided to stay home and eat. But my son said, “Let’s go to Pelican Alley,” which is a favorite restaurant, but a ways away. We were ambivalent because of the weather, but we finally said OK. And when we stepped outside, the clouds broke and the sun shone through. At the restaurant, my son brought his card deck with him and entertained us with a few tricks. (My favorite involved cutting the cards with a knife.)
Then he said he wanted to do a trick for other diners in the restaurant. Oh, we said, we don’t know, they’re eating. Come on, he said. How about I just show that waitress? He pointed to a waitress who didn’t seem busy at the moment. OK, we said.
He started to show the waitress a trick, and I noticed that a man sitting nearby with a woman was looking at my son intently and smiling. When my son returned, I told him that the man seemed interested, so why not show him the trick. He did, at which point the man stood up and walked outside. When he returned, he had a small bag attached to his waist, from which he began extracting balloons. It turned out he was a professional clown. I left my magic stuff back at my place, he said, but I have a few balloons. He proceeded to create the best balloon shapes any of us had ever seen for the kids and everyone else at the table, while giving my son pointers on where he could learn more about doing card tricks and magic. It ended up being a delightful evening for everyone.
I reflected that it was only a delightful evening because my son had followed his gut. He followed his interest in card tricks. He followed his interest in the restaurant, when the rest of us were ambivalent. He followed his desire to show card tricks to others. And not only did that result in a fun balloon show from a talented clown, but some excellent tips that my son can use to pursue his interest further. It was a night he will remember, and a lesson I will remember: to follow my gut, because you never know what unexpected benefits will result.
