Our World is in Safe Hands

There is a lot to bemoan these days… the economy, healthcare, expensive concert tickets. When you look at the problems it is easy to get discouraged and cynical. Devin himself had an awful event occur recently but this time something wonderful came out of it.

To begin with, Devin drives a beat up 1983 El Camino. The family refers to it as El Heapo which he hates. Although this car is painted with primer gray, has rust holes and lots of mechanical problems he loves it.  He sees beyond its obvious problems and realizes its potential or its just a guy thing.

Devin's El Camino

Anyway, for his 17th birthday he took all his birthday money and some of his own to purchase a new stereo and speakers. It was probably the most expensive thing on the car but he didn’t care.

One day recently he went to the mall to run an errand and while he was inside someone broke into the car and stole the precious stereo. He was heartbroken. It was a tough lesson to learn for a teenager and he was deflated for days.

The next day one of the boys down the street, Harace, heard about the theft and came to offer a car stereo he had in his shop. The odd thing is Devin and Harace don’t really hang out together. In fact, I wasn’t sure they knew one another. Harace is a budding mechanic and major car enthusiast who spends his time dismantling and rebuilding cars for fun. Devin is a musician that barely makes time for classes.

So true to his word, Harace brings Devin the new stereo a couple of days later and even helps install it — he even finds another problem to repair. Harace did not ask for money or favors. He just wanted to help someone that needed a hand.

Devin could have slipped into the cynical state that we all seem to be encased in, but he was offered a hand and I am sure he will return the favor down the road.

I think this world is in great hands and I hope that I can remember to look past the headlines and see the individuals. They are much better than the papers lead you to believe. Thank you Harace.

Lessons Learned From Bed

Tomorrow will be one month since my disastrous fall on my tiled entry and I have learned a lot about life in the past 29 days. Things I believed have solidified into known truths.

First and foremost your family is the center of your existence. Without their help, support, hand holding, tear wiping and overall love I would not have endured. Bodies heal and bones mend with time but the effects on the mind are far below the surface and harder to heal.

• Thanks to Bob who I am sure wanted to wrap me in his arms and protect me until I could walk on both feet. He knows when to hold my hand and let me cry and when to push me out of my mood.
• Thanks to Mom for taking up the chores of running my house. She is a great caregiver, cheerleader and friend. She knows what I need before I ever ask. I especially like to thank her church friends whom I never met, but felt their love through prayers. That is truly a blessing.
• Thanks to Ciara and Devin who were my legs, my entertainment and my buddies. I loved story time in bed, tales of coffee shop patrons and high school events.
• Thanks to Dad and Carolyn who brought me meals for a week and called regularly to check on my status.
• Thanks to my father-in-law, Jerry, who drove in from New Braunfels my first weekend home to take care of the kids and cook meals.

My second lesson came from friends. The old saying, ‘You learn who your true friends are during difficult times’ is more true than I ever imagined. I was humbled and touched by friends that reached out to me from my past and present. One I haven’t seen in three years came to my hospital room and another from high school supplied a scar-reducing home remedy. Bob’s theater family brought food, called and sent flowers. I never ever expected their support which made it that more precious to me.

Those friends that could not be bothered with a kind email or call, I thank you for revealing your true selves. It was noted.

Now for some humor,

• It is a fact of life you can not physically frown with a Tootsie pop in your mouth.
• Daytime television will melt your brain.
• Children of all ages like to play with crutches and walkers.

Thanks everyone for lessons well learned and forever remembered.

Decisions, Decisions

So, I have lots of opportunities in front of me at this point. The hard question is which direction should I go? Each time I ask family members, they just say whatever makes you happy. That’s nice and supportive, but not very helpful.

So with my entrepreneurial hat on and my best visionary skills, I have come up with some options. Give me some help and vote on the ones that sound the most plausible to you.

A. Flip websites. Yes, this is a real business. Hard to believe but true. I would purchase an under-performing website from someone. Give it a work over and optimize it with social media and either keep it as a money earning site, or turn around and resell.
Benefit: Optimizing sites is basically what I have been doing for the last 10 years, I think I could flip a site with pretty good results.
Negative: Investment income is needed for some site purchases and the ones with the most likely income are e-commerce, which I do not have experience doing.

B. Develop Websites. I already have a couple of my own website ideas that I could build from the ground up. I have a green information site that I think would be pretty popular and could generate a decent income over time. Another one is more of a blog where people can post quotes from the office. I have actually wanted to do this one for years.
Benefit: Both ideas are niche markets that could gain popularity in a small segment and grow to a larger crowd. The Green site would definitely be riding a tidal wave of popularity.
Negative: Need a designer and programmer to set the sites up, which again involves cash…. beyond the weekly unemployment check. I’m great at content and optimization, but you do not want to see me designing.

C. Sell Real Estate. This one is from far right field. Get my real estate license and start selling homes using the web and social media tools to promote the homes. I have always been interested in real estate and Bob and I would like to flip houses and make them sustainable.
Benefits: I can take the license courses while I am recuperating and the social/web marketing part will be a breeze. I have some connections in the real estate world and could probably get some support starting out.
Negative: Could be some time before the economy rebounds enough to make decent money and need investment money to purchase the houses and renovate.

So friends and family, there are the options rattling around in my brain. Give me a little help and vote for the one you think I should follow. Note… none of these involve going back to work in a corporation!

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions!