Russ Lowry marks his 57th birthday with advice on what matters: 28 years of marriage, 12 years coaching, and time with family over work. He reconnected with fraternity brothers after 30 years at their 120th anniversary reunion.
57 years old.
28 years.
12 years.
His fraternity's 120th anniversary reunion (reconnected with men he hadn't seen in ~30 years).
57 today. Today's my 57th birthday. Just some words of wisdom. Maybe someone's been around a little bit on this earth. Thinking back, what I might change, I did a fairly good job. But you know, the work's always going to be there. I think I've mentioned this before, problems are always going to be there. They'll come and go, but just work on spending more time with people that you doing the things you like. Like I said, sometimes you'll prioritize work and miss out on something maybe that's a hobby of yours or spending time with the kids. Like I see people that trade work hours for seeing their kids in sports or the Valentine's Day party, the Christmas party, all those little things like that. Do the little things like that because work will always be there. But as we've said many times before too, the days are long, the years are short. It seems like just yesterday I was in college, especially when I went back to my fraternity reunion at our 120th anniversary celebration and saw guys I hadn't seen in 30 years. And it was just like the old days. So every year think about that as you age. Don't let the tyranny of the urgent take away from what's important for you. Your family, your spouse. That's one another thing that often we'll see. A lot of our friends are getting divorced now that their kids are graduating. They held on just long enough for the kids to get out of high school or maybe college because the mom and dad, husband and wife had nothing in common. That is another thing. Me and mom have always taken time for dates. We've had try to keep things in common. We have a few things outside, obviously. You know, mom does like a book club or she's had stuff. I mostly work, but I have a few, a few things here like taking care of the property. But always try to stay. Another little piece of advice. Best friends with your spouse. They're your secret weapon in business, your secret weapon in life. A husband and wife together yoked same. The same values, the same vision and objectives are unstoppable. And that's what's hurt a lot of people today. A husband and wife are going different directions. They're just roommates. And people wonder why, what's happening to society and in kids. So I think that's another important thing. Always to take care of your spouse and your relationship with your spouse. Very important. It's more important probably than your kids because after coaching for 12 years with the majority of our teams kids being divorced it's just devastating to small kids when they see that. So, you know, be able to say, I'm sorry it's tough to your spouse, but that helps go a long way as well into staying married for all the 28 years we've been married, for sure. So hopefully that helps out a little bit. Just reflecting on 57 years. Do the little things. Like I said, you always look back and I. I sometimes can't believe the people that don't do things with their family. They don't take vacations ever thinking that they'll do it. And they retire. And by the time they retire, like we went to Europe last year, we saw people, they're so freaking old, they couldn't. They had walkers and wheelchairs. They couldn't do anything. So don't wait. Take those vacations. Take the vacations with your kids because they grow up so fast and do vacations with your spouses because like I said, problems are always going to be there. Work is always going to be there in some form or fashion. But that time is fleeting. And before you know it, you're 57 years old, you're an old man. So.
