Generous. Grateful. Hardworking. Those three words came straight to mind without even thinking, when I heard the news about Casey Kasem yesterday. He was so much of those three things. One year he invited me to his house to spend Easter and help out with a personal charity event he hosted. He brought 1,500 children to his own home to spend Easter Sunday with him and his family. His guests were a mix of terminally ill children and (very) poor kids from the inner city. He paid to have them all bussed to his house. He had medical tents set up in his yard staffed with the childrens doctors - so all 1500 kids could enjoy a truly amazing, over-the-top Easter Egg hunt... fantastic gifts... and a truly beautiful meal. Just as the kids arrived, I locked myself in one of Caseys bathrooms and cried. I had never before experienced anyone who was terminally ill. I was terrified I would not be able to act cheerful enough in the presence of such sick and fragile children. I learned so much over the course of that day... Casey talked to me about the power of gratitude (I started noticing that how grateful he is came up a lot of times in conversation). He told me about how he came to create his radio show out of nothing at all but a crazy amount of hard work (and certainly his great attitude, I thought)... I knew his radio show was no small achievement. And that he had been savvy enough to retain ownership and syndicate it himself to each paying station - which at the time was genius, groundbreaking, and certainly made him an incredibly wealthy man. We talked about our mutual home state of Michigan, his hometown of Flint, being Lebanese (I am not)... He proudly showed me his college ring from Wayne State University, where my father went also and had the same ring. I surprised myself that I could pull it together that day not to cry in front of any children. They laughed and played and I felt happy and grateful. I remember the poor kids had such a hard time understanding that everything was free - that it was actually meant for them. Some tried to steal their own gifts anyway; while we tried to explain it was all for them - that they didnt have to sneak or steal. I couldnt fault these kids I just felt for them and was happy there were such nice gifts to give them. After that Easter Casey invited me back to his house as a guest to his Christmas parties - which remain hands-down the best and funniest I have ever attended. (Weird Al hitting on Mrs. Brady... Bradys and Partridges in the house together... David Hasselhoff - his outfit was its own guest... cast of M*A*S*H... you name it from 1960s, 70s and 80s television). I will always be grateful for the positive impact Casey and the stories he shared with me have had on me. Such an incredibly generous, grateful and hardworking man. I think we should all be so lucky to be remembered and described by three words like those.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 02:25:31 +0000
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