I realize this is a cliché, but I have been thinking a lot about life these past few weeks and I sort of get the whole re-birth thing. I really do feel like I have a second chance at life and that has caused me to think about all of the things I always said I wanted to do but never got around to. I have also been thinking about past mistakes and regrets, and although I have made it a point not to dwell on the past, there are some things I’d like to go back and fix.

Yesterday, for example, I reconnected with an old friend that I lost touch with. I was thinking about all the great times we had in college and afterward and I realized I had no idea why we lost touch. All I knew is that I wanted to talk to him and find out what he’s been up to — and after a 20 minute phone call I felt great about rebuilding that relationship, hearing about his new family, and generally just knowing he was doing well. I’m not going to get all preachy during my recovery but if there’s someone important out there that you have lost touch with take the first step and give him or her a call.

My friend and co-worker Mike McClary and I both returned to the corporate world together last year after many years in solo practices and we agreed the second time around in the corporate world would be different because we were wiser, older and less concerned about all the usual corporate B.S. that made us hate corporate America in the past. We call this new attitude “Corporate 2.0” and for the most part we’ve managed to make it work. This has inspired me to call my post-heart attack life “Len 2.0”

Len 2.0 is more than just a philosophy though because I really did almost kick the bucket a few weeks ago! I remember after my mother-in-law passed away at an early age Leslie and I talked a lot about how she had done all the things expected of a wife and mother and when she was finally free from those responsibilities she always thought she’d be able to finally do all the things in life she wanted to do. She was young, had some money and had the desire…but it turns out she didn’t have the health and unfortunately she ran out of time. We always said we weren’t going to make the same mistake — we were going to do all the things we wanted to do while we had the chance. But it’s not so easy. Sure, we went to Hawaii a few times and I went back to school to get a master’s degree. But the truth is there are tons of things we want to do but haven’t gotten around to. That changes now.

I have actually created a bucket list. I don’t care how silly it seems — life is just too damn short. I’ve added a page to this blog to host the list and it’ll be a living list that gets updated as I think of more things I want to do. There’s not much there yet, but I assure you it will grow. Feel free to offer suggestions, but I can tell you now I’m not going to jump out of an airplane no matter what!