Why! Why! Why!

This was the question I found myself asking over and over as I laid in bed this morning and learned that my friend Kyle Warnick had died after being struck by a car as he walked his dog in the late afternoon on September 15. 2014.

One thing people knew about Kyle was that he was an amazing story teller amongst many other talents. It was summer of 2013 in lake Chelan as Kyle and I sat on a dock drinking beers. "Ones that  he had handpicked." As we contemplated life, I asked him if he had thought about teaching Real Estate agents how to tell a good story? His face lit up and the big smile we all love came over him and he said "Well Mike!  Funny you ask that, I was thinking the same thing, so yes when?" Kyle had put the finishing touches on the class and we set the date Oct 9, 2014. He had mastered what he was going to teach and had taken time to build it around the world of real estate. I remember after Kyle had meet with a few of our Windermere Owners and Brokers he came to me and said. "Wow your business is a bit different." He meant it with the best of intentions.  I always looked forward to our meetings to discuss the class and every time we met it always started off with his big smile and usually a funny story, or the two of us laughing about a recent Facebook post, then talking about our kids and family and what we had done over the weekend, by the way his outings were always more colorful than mine. We would eventually get to business.  So as I laid there and asked why?  I realized that as tragic as this is we have to somehow someway find meaning behind it because Kyle would want that.

What I know about Kyle is that he had zest for life, he was very much in love with Pam and his two sons. He was a super dad to Josh and Jackson. He loved music, and art, and food, good beers, and his ability to tell a story was amazing. Disneyland was his happy place.  Actually the list can go on and on. I always looked forward to doing things with Kyle and Pam because the fun factor was off the charts, and I would have a great story to attempt to tell even though it was never as good as the way Kyle told it. I was so looking forward to  his class and hoping to get the secret of storytelling from the master.  He had an energy that you felt as soon as he walked in the room. So back to WHY! I have so many emotions but if I stop and think about who Kyle was, this is where I land. 

The most important part about him  was that he cared. He cared about people and he was so much more about them then he was about himself. Both he and Pam are so genuine, and you could see that they had taught Josh and Jackson to carry on the same way.  He was a giver and an all-around wonderful guy. He was always thinking who can I help next. Yes his death was tragic and the why part we will never know. God said it was time is pretty much what I came up with. What we can do however is honor the spirit of Kyle by allowing ourselves to stop and  laugh a bit more, Love harder, embrace others, and ask yourself the next time you're with a love one, your child or a friend. How are you making them feel? Do you make them laugh, do they know that  you are there for them and do they look forward to the next time?  Take time  today and tell the people in your life what they mean to you. We don't always know what may come. 

My thoughts are with Pam, and Josh, and Jackson in this difficult time, and for those of you who knew Kyle take what you loved about him and weave it into you own worlds and tell the story of Kyle Warnick. The world will be a better place because the Kyle that I know would of wanted it that way.