Bob Saget set a high bar when I was raising my kids. As Danny Tanner in “Full House,” he played a widowed father of three girls trying to raise them with the help of his brother-in-law and best friend. While I had my wife to help with my two daughters, Saget as Tanner always knew the right thing to say and do, and my girls would often point that out when I made, in their minds, a bad decision. In the end, though, he was very much the Ozzie Nelson of his time.
When Bob Saget died suddenly on January 9, 2022, it was a shock to his family, friends, and fans. His was a sudden and unexpected death, and as of this writing, no cause has been established. He was on tour, doing the standup comedy he loved, and was found deceased in his hotel room the morning after a performance. All of the details of his life and death have been written elsewhere. For me, the death of Bob Saget should remind us of 2 important lessons in life: 1)There are no guarantees and 2) Leave a joyful legacy.
There Are No Guarantees In Life
For all of us Manopause men, there are more years behind us than ahead, and none of us know how many. We are all guilty of assuming we have plenty of time, so we casually plan to do things, later. When any celebrities, friends, or family die at a young age, and 65 is young, we need to realize that it could happen to any of us. So the first lesson to learn from the death of Bob Saget is to live life now! Do the things you want to do now. Don’t wait for retirement, or next year, or whenever. Take that trip, write that book, learn to play the piano, hike that mountain! As Benjamin Franklin wrote, “You may delay, but time will not.”
Leave A Joyful Legacy
Bob Saget spent most of his life in the entertainment business, not known for compassion or kindness. He had a varied career, doing “Full House,” “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” and a successful standup career that sometimes shocked because of its risqué content. And yet, he managed to stay kind and generous to friends and those with less, supporting a variety of charities, including the Scleroderma Research Foundation. His sister was actually diagnosed with scleroderma after he had already been fundraising for them, and she subsequently passed away from the disease.
All of the tributes to Bob Saget have been loving, poignant, funny, and joyful. As Jimmy Kimmel said, he was the sweetest guy–it was the most common word used to describe him. Genuine sentiments from people from every walk of life expressed love and gratitude for his life well-lived. He was the kind of person, like Danny Tanner, that we hope we can be. Living life well, being kind and generous to others, being a good friend, father, brother and son are the things to which we should aspire.
None of us know what the future will bring, so live each day with passion, joy and purpose.
