Outsized Gifts

It is perhaps axiomatic that we are most assisted in our development by the people with whom we spend the most time. The short list of people who have had the most impact on my development in many domains would be my parents, my siblings, and my partner of forty two years. I suspect many of you would have a similar short list.

But lately I've been reflecting on someone who has had a disproportionate impact on my development as a thinking person. I wonder: Have any of you had a similar experience in any domain of your development?

After our last interaction, I realized that though I've known him for almost thirty years, it's possible I've spent fewer than one hundred hours with him. Without much effort I could identify ten people - aside from my siblings and partner - I've known longer, and twenty others with whom I've spent a great deal more than one hundred hours. But it would take some real effort to identify someone who has enriched my thinking as much as he has in so few hours.

More than once, I've expressed my gratitude to him for the gift given to me. If you're as fortunate as I, when did you most recently acknowledge any outsized gift that has been bestowed on you?