A Redemption

I am sharing this story to remind people that it is never is too late to say “I’m sorry,” and you never know when an act of humility might be rewarded. This might be the longest story I have ever told on the blog and I tell it just as much to remind me as I do to share it with others. As I have often noted, my blog is a look out my window.

I foretold the story here, Coming Full Circle.

This story has two chapters.

Chapter 1.  (Backstory)

In 2001, Bruce and I started a new company for a cemetery that I had already owned and two others that we were purchasing from a divestiture by a large, death care corporation.  This effectively split the cemeteries from the two funeral homes I owned. Bruce was named president of the company and I, vice president. We split responsibilities but it became too much for me as I was concentrating on growing my funeral homes. Additionally, I was going through a difficult time personally and was very selfish. I decided to sell my interest in the business to Bruce and his wife in the Fall of 2003. Because of where I was at personally, I looked at it as a divorce. For no reason that I can logically explain, I had absolutely no contact with Bruce from late 2003 until October 2025.

There had been a few times I thought about calling, but never followed up on the thought, . . . until I did.  I was driving home from some meeting and on the impulse to do so, just pulled over and called his office and had to leave a message.  Less than ten minutes later he called and after a few pleasantries, I explained that the reason I called was to apologize for being such a jerk when we broke up our relationship. Bruce made it easy for me. He thanked me and assured me he didn’t remember it like that, and after some more catching up, decided to get together for breakfast in the near future. Which we did. Aside from us both looking 23 years older, we talked like old friends, sharing stories of our families and careers. We even spoke of possibly combining forces once again. Over several weeks, we bounced ideas off each other, but we couldn’t define an idea that worked for both of us, even though we tried. This chapter ends here.

Chapter 2. (The Redemption)

After my work  in Nashville was completed in December of 2024,  I returned to Aiken and began looking for my next project. I thought, as someone with demonstrated success in my specialty, it shouldn’t have taken long to find a new work home.  Well, that didn’t exactly go as planned.

Not wanting to be living off my retirement yet, I  began working a few part-time jobs and applied to several death care organizations, offering my experience and maturity to them. A few interviews, a few promises for “in a few months.” but no offers. Was it me, my age, or the fact that they thought I might not get along with the younger crowd that is entering funeral service?  Doesn’t matter, but doors opened and then they closed.

In mid-December, I was contacted by the owner of a death care company who asked if I would be interested in helping him grow and spread the footprint of his businesses.  Because of the holidays, however, we were making slow progress. As we got into January, there were a few more calls, a Zoom here and there, resulting in his inviting me to his city, where he put me up overnight and we continued our discussions.  We finally got to the point where I was waiting for an employment agreement to be signed, (I will note that I had already completed my employee paperwork and other onboarding), but a final employment agreement kept getting delayed. I started having some reservations for a few reasons, not the least of which was that his and my personalities and management styles seemed very different. I began anticipating that I would be very frustrated in my role.  After discussing it with my wife, it was decided that I was probably going to contact him the following day to remove myself from consideration, but I was going to sleep on it.

Later that evening, I called Bruce to tell him about the job offered to me and he told me he was disappointed I was considering taking it as he was planning to call me to offer me a leadership position with his company, the one he and I started all those years ago. I reiterated to him that I was skeptical about the situation I had been considering. We continued our chat and later that evening, he transmitted an employment agreement to me, which I signed and returned.

Comparing the two positions, side by side, there is no comparison. I lucked out.

I contacted the owner of the company I had almost joined, thanking him for his hospitality and faith in me, but sharing my reasons for turning down the position.  He said he was disappointed but thanked me for my candor and wished me well.

Today, I start my role as VP of Operations & Sales, all because I humbled myself to make a telephone call to say I was sorry, never in a million years, thinking it would be anything more than that.

I am excited for what is now before me and am thankful for this new chapter.