Investment Advice and Tragedy

So yesterday I drove up to Aventura, called Aventorture by some because of the untenable traffic.  I had a business lunch, which turned out quite fruitful.  But, as usual, I got there way early, and decided to kill the time at the Aventura Mall.

I generally don't like malls.  I did, as a teenager and young adult, but now that I've developed a stunning allergy to owning stuff, there's little to recommend them.  But Aventura is something to see -- dripping with the scent of money -- and an interesting mix of local, upper middle class black folks, and tons of South Americans, along with a smattering of ladies who lunch, many with classic Five Towns Long Island looks and accents.

I strolled into the Apple store, and was taken aback.  It was PACKED -- in the middle of a weekday, and people were waiting on line to make appointments to see the "geniuses" who would fix or adjust their IPhones and other devices.

In the early aughts, when Apple was still coming of age, my friend and broker Pat suggested I invest -- at a level higher than I typically did for a single stock.  Well, I'm surely not alone, but my returns over the past 15 years have been about 300%.  I gifted sums to the Ds, and kept plenty for ourselves.  Seeing the sight in the store yesterday confirmed the decision.

Of course, it's no guarantee.  When the Ds were in Middle School, I bought stock in a clothes company after the Ds made me wait on line for 15 minutes to buy $40 T shirts.  I figured that was a no brainer, too, and for awhile the stock rose, but now Abercrombie and Fitch is near bankruptcy.  I guess the trick is knowing when to bold.

In contrast to Apple, I walked through Sears, to get to the only part of the mall I could find parking.  It was dead there.  It took a long time to find a salesperson so I could be directed outside.  I finally found one fellow, helping a couple with appliances, and the fellow was annoyed at my question.  I 'm pretty sure Sears will be done as a company pretty soon.  I'm no Warren Buffet, but I'm confident in my prediction.

And then I got to the car and checked my emails, and there was a forwarded message from Dr. Barry -- a university wide post from our old friend Pat Whitely, who has risen to Dean of Students.  She was reporting about an utter tragedy.

A brand new Cane, and young woman named Ellie Goldenberg, had graduated summa cum laude on Friday, in the Drama Department.  She had won all awards, and had starred for y ears in Ring Theater productions.  Her family had come down from western PA for her graduation, and they took an Everglades airboat ride on Saturday.  There was a crash.  The parents and sister were hurt, and Ellie was killed.

All deaths of young achievers are awful, but this one seemed acutely so.  Exactly following a family triumph, a college graduation, a family must plan a funeral instead of a move to a first job city.  The Big Man is truly inscrutable, I guess.

So Barry's email shocked me back to reality -- investing money, Trump, Korea -- stuff people get so worked up about -- and in an Everglades minute, everything can change.

I don't know Ellie's parents, of course, but I hurt for them.  May they somehow find peace in the memory of their lost beautiful daughter.