For two years, I worked for a large consulting house in the US and travelled around North America. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and found a passion for my job that I just can't explain.

During that two years, I went on a trip to Boston to meet with the folks over at Pega Systems as they were new channel partners of ours. On this trip, I fell in love with the history of Boston and one of my colleagues was kind enough to show me around. He was our CIO and I found him to an intelligent and compassionate person who also loved what he was doing. I learned he had a son that he adored, but not much more about him personally.

On the day we were all leaving, since I was the only one with a rental car (Note: don't get a rental car on trips to Boston, you won't need it) I agreed to drive him to the rental outlet so he could pick up a car he had rented to go to the next state to visit his sister (since she was so close). We chatted more about work and people we worked with and the business we were trying to generate in the East. I dropped him off, shook his hand and agreed we'd catch up on my next trip to LA.

That never happened. You see two weeks later, Rob was on another business trip, alone in an airport when he had a heart attack and passed away. We as a company were devastated. People (like me) that had only met him in person a handful of times, were shocked and saddened. One of my friends & her husband were very close friends with him and she took it very hard. She would tell me about the times he would come over for tea and I learned more about him from her memories than actually meeting him.

For the past 2 and half years, his profile has remained on Linked In and it hurt every time it popped up for the people I might know. I finally had enough and decided to contact Linked In to advise them. They were kind and supportive about it and it was done within 24 hours. But it still hurts.

Its also a sobering reminder that we are in a high stress industry and with all the travel some of us do, we are at risk. So take care of yourselves my friends and eat that salad even if you hate it. A firend or colleague, a son or other family member will be glad you did.