Just When You Think It Can't Get Worse...

Life delivers punches every day. You learn to roll with the little ones, but every now and then you get knocked down. All are well here in mid-MO, despite the fact that a very nice young college student totalled our car yesterday. More on that in a minute, but I can't stop thinking about how a little punch to one person can be a real knock out for another. With the economy the way it is, so many people are one little car accident or brush fire or illness away from financial tragedy. How in the world is our new President and Congress going to fix the mess we've gotten ourselves into?

For those who know Columbia, just after it started to pour yesterday, we were headed to Robotics, driving down Forum, starting to go up the hill, and I thought to myself, I have to be very careful and pay attention to the drivers coming down the hill, and not a second later, I saw headlights coming straight for me. I drove onto the shoulder but resisted driving onto the grass since I was not sure how much room there was to drive safely. Just when I thought I might avoid an accident, I felt the hard crack and saw myself go spinning. I have never been more relieved to hear my kids scream. It meant they were both alive, but I felt a small panic knowing that she hit me right in the gas tank, then remembered I had been driving on empty all day...

So many things for which to be thankful. Thankful no one was hurt, actually somewhat thankful sbe hit us and not a tree, because as fast as she was sliding, she might not have survived, thankful I never stopped to put gas in my car, thankful I never cancelled my collision coverage, and thankful that this little accident won't put me over the edge. But, as a business owner, I have become more cognizant of those who are so close to the edge. There are probably a hundred people I know personally who would be devastated to lose a car. We had the luxury of three, so while my life gets a little more inconvenient, we will survive. And I am more than a little annoyed that that car was worth way more to me than the $2000 or so the insurance company will honor, but I am not going to lose a job or life over that loss.

In this month of thanks giving and the season of giving, take more than a minute to give thanks for everything you have, no matter how meager it seems. Make amends with a loved one and do a good deed. Pay it forward as much as you can since you never know if that knockout punch might be the next one. But also think about giving with meaning. We all need to curb the excessive materialistic tendencies we have nurtured for a decade and know that times are tough and will probably get tougher. Give from the heart and give where it can make the most difference. With lots of love and even more appreciation of life, Lisa