The Conversation I’ll Never Get To Have…
Mannnnnn....this news made me so sad. There's been so much loss and so much death in the last couple years that I almost find myself feeling numb to it. That is, until the other day when I wasn't. As I began to see all of the online articles and tributes coming in, I was totally shocked that AJ Crimson had died. I didn't know AJ very well but what I did know about him I simply adored. We spoke many times before we actually ever met in person.
However, at that first meeting, I recognized that he was kind. He was present. He treated everybody like family. He was nice to his assistant. He praised his friend Estelle, who happened to be on the panel at his event. He honored his invited guests by sharing his platform. He took pictures with every single attendee that wanted to speak to him one on one. I immediately thought to myself, here's a person who gets it. He not only got it, but he bodied it.
The entertainment industry is full of egos, mean girls (and guys), arrogance and GODLESSNESS. So when you run across a rare soul that embodies the fruits of spirit, you hold on to that. I kept in touch with AJ after that event. We'd correspond every once in a while mostly through social media but when I decided to start this podcast called 10000 Hours Later, he was the FIRST person that I reached out to.
I was excited when he immediately reached back and agreed to allow me to interview him. I wanted to talk about his career, and his overall journey in the industry. We were going to discuss his career path, not from a branding / marketing or notoriety perspective but from a spiritual one. I listened in on a conversation that he was having on Clubhouse and I knew he'd be a perfect fit for the discussion. When we spoke, he gassed me up about the podcast name and gave incredible insight on how I should approach this thing. I'm forever grateful for that boost of confidence he gave me to just do it.
Nevertheless, I put it off. A pandemic happened, life happened and I kept pushing the conversation off thinking I'd eventually circle back to this. When I heard the news of his passing, I was sad for all those who loved him and mad at myself for putting this off. We take tomorrow for granted. We think we have time until we don't. We walk around with the arrogant assumption that God's going to give us another chance tomorrow, to do what he asked us to do today or yesterday or 10 days before that.
Although this is a conversation, that I'll never get to have, I pray that AJ's spirit lives on in the lives he touched and the legacy he left. His presence on earth undoubtedly made us all proud. May his soul rest In eternal peace and if you get nothing else from this post, I want you to hear this and hear it well... Do not bank on tomorrow if there is something that you should be doing today.
