Before retirement, he had been an executive in Montreal
His wife had been the wife of an executive...a very feisty wife of the executive.
6 months into retirement in Florida, she blurted out.
“Enough. I’ve had it. This is no life.
Going out for lunch, Going out for supper.
Playing cards.
And talking about the grandchildren.”
The next thing her husband knew, she had bought two plane tickets to Montreal.
Once there she spread out the “Business For Sale “ ads on the table in their hotel room, and picked out one. A small little ice cream store in Snowdon.
She bought the store, rented an apartment,
And immediately started selling ice cream cones.
In fact she just loved selling ice cream cones.
And being full of fun and energy, she was soon selling up a storm.
The kids flocked in. Bought the cones. Licked the cones.
And just plain hung around.
And while they were hanging around she took out her camera and
Took tons and tons of pictures of kids with ice cream all over their face.
The pictures were plastered on the wall.
From floor to ceiling
And the husband?
He was an executive.
And executives don’t sell ice cream cones.
So there he was, the big slim grump, sitting on the stool in front of the counter,
And moping with self pity.
“That it should come to this. Me, an executive selling ice cream cones”
Until one day, a bearded guru sat down beside him.
And while the two of them were licking their ice cream cones,
The guru heard the executive’s complaints.
The guru was patient. And heard the executive go through the gamut of complaints.
And then he said one momentous thing.
It changed everything.
“Listen carefully, As a guru who knows the essence of life, I will share this truth with you.
“The meaning of life is to sell ice cream cones”
The guru stood up, paid for his ice cream cone, and waved goodbye to the executive.
Suddenly, something snapped in the executive’s mind.
Like a magic wand had been waved three times over his head.
As if in a trance. he went behind the counter and joined his wife in selling ice cream cones.
And for the first time since his retirement, he was a happy man.
For the first time he realized a quality of joy he had never experienced as an executive.
So for the next few years, for 5 months in the year, when the weather turned warm in Montreal,
The former executive and his wife sold up a storm of ice cream cones side by side...
...Until ...
...the time had come.
They had run out of energy,
They sold the ice cream parlor
And returned to Florida, never to return again.
I’ll bet you one thing. If there’s an afterlife
The former executive is selling ice cream cones to his former fellow executives....
And enjoying the rest of eternity selling ice cream cones!
