I've been working on my next book this week. May call it The One Thing to Know Before You Die. Which reminded me of one of my favorite real life stories.

Aldred Pruden Wallace is an odd name for a man. His son, Peter, is my friend. Aldred lived his last 18 months in a nursing home, surviving on his small pension. He had no other possessions besides his wonderful, warm and generous spirit. 

The staff loved Aldred and would do anything for him. In his final few months, dementia set in, and Aldred created scenarios in his mind. For example, one day The President had consulted Aldred for advice on foreign policy. But most of the scenarios revolved around money. He thought he had $200MM left over from World War II and he really wanted to bless his caregivers and friends at the nursing home. 

So several times a day, Aldred would walk up to a caregiver, pull them aside and say quietly in their ear, ”I want to give you a million dollars because you’ve been so kind, so good to me.” The nursing home staff would chuckle when Peter came to visit, and say, “Your dad has been so generous with his money!”

But one day they found Aldred very quiet and withdrawn – out of character. He was like that for several days in a row. Then he died. Turned out he had had a stroke – and no one really knew it. The stroke had changed his personality.

The nurse said, “We knew something was wrong. When he quit giving, we knew something was clearly wrong.”

I hope that you and I become generous enough in life that when we stop giving, someone will say, "Surely something must be wrong!"