Went out to get my mail and Neighbor was sitting on his front porch and we started we chatting. He got hurt working on his car, now is is unable to to work. It will be along time, close to a year before he can fully return to work. He doesn't know how he is going to feed his family and is feeling a little low.
There have been a few times I have been able to share part of my Story with him and today, he got the chapter on unemployment. DD was eleven months old and the plant we both worked at was going on strike. We thought DH would have a job but a few minutes before shift change, he lost his job. We had nothing and did eventually, lose our home. We had to start all over again. It would be six years before we would buy our a home. It took us a long time to recoup financial and emotionally.
I finished telling him our Story and he looked at me and said, Thanks - I needed to hear that today. . We went on to talk about gratitude - this tattooed Harley guy taking it all in. Soon, we went back to our respective lives, both a bit wiser I think.
Life really is about starting over, again and again. In all areas of our lives, there are times, we have no choice. We have the ability to learn Something each time or we can dwell in the What Ifs. Dwelling there for any real length of time can lead to no good. The What Ifs will kill you. Neighbor has been hanging around there for a bit, hopefully he is ready to move on.
I hadn't thought about those days in a while. Those memories never go away and I walked away today with a sense that we may be stronger than we imagine. I love hindsight even after 34 years. We learn and then we start all over again. Not such a bad thing, when you really think about. Room for great potential...
