Workaholic Father Gives An Emotional Warning To Parents After Finding Out His Son Died During A Work Meeting
Sadly, it took a family tragedy to give this man a new perspective on life and remind him of what is most important.
J.R. Storment spent years chasing work, building his business, and barely stepping away from the grind. Then one phone call in the middle of a meeting changed everything.
In a LinkedIn post, the entrepreneur described the moment he learned his eight-year-old son, Wiley, had died while he was in a conference room at work. The loss forced him to look back on how little time he had taken off, and how quickly life can change without warning.
His story is hard to read, and even harder to forget.
Wiley had a mild form of epilepsy. However, he had never been considered in danger, and when J.R. left for work that morning, Wiley was fine, and everything was normal.
"My wife and I have an agreement that when one of us calls, the other answers. So when the phone rang, I stood up and walked to the conference room door immediately.I was still walking through the door when I answered with, “Hey, what’s up?”Her reply was icy and immediate: “J.R., Wiley is dead.”“What?I responded incredulously.“Wiley has died,” she reiterated.“What?! No,” I yelled out, “No!”“I’m so sorry; I have to call 911.”When J.R. arrived home, the street was filled with emergency vehicles. It was hours before he was allowed to get a glimpse of his son, who was still lying innocently in his pajamas in bed as though he were asleep.
J.R. says he wants to remind other parents to spend time with their kids and remember what's important before it's too late.
"Hug your kids. Don’t work too late.A lot of the things you are likely spending your time on, you’ll regret once you no longer have the time. I’m guessing you have one-on-one meetings scheduled with many people you work with. Do you have them regularly scheduled with your kids?If there’s any lesson to take away from this, it’s to remind others (and myself) not to miss out on the things that matter."LinkedIn, being a professional networking site, seemed like the right place for J.R. to warn other workaholics that work isn't everything. Family comes first, and time can be tragically cut short.
WikimediaBefore Wiley's passing, J.R. had given $100 to each of his boys. They had decided they wanted to use it to go on a camping trip, which was something J.R. had sadly never made time for.
So, after Wiley's death, the Storment family decided to go on the camping trip in his honor. They purchased some new camping gear and headed toward Mt. St. Helens.
When they arrived, they realized they had forgotten to bring the cash to pay for the camping fee. However, J.R.'s wife remembered that Wiley had put his $100 in the back seat pocket of the car. They were able to retrieve it and use it to pay the fee. It was as if Wiley had bailed them out of trouble.
“It was one of many bittersweet moments we will experience for the rest of our lives. Each happy moment brings with it the sadness that he doesn’t get to experience it.”
J.R. says his relationship with his wife and remaining son has been forever changed because of what happened to Wiley.
He hopes that others will also learn from his tragic story and appreciate that family is what is truly important in life.
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