Near Death Experience

Yesterday I had a near death experience. I was driving on a back country road at about 50 mph when a lady in a full size Chevy pickup comes barrelling around a corner at well over 60 mph. She was fully in my lane. I laid on the horn and swerved hard to the left. She swerved to the left and ran into a ditch. I watched her through the rearview mirror and saw that she nearly flipped at least twice. I stopped, backed up and ran to check on her. She had already exited her vehicle and was running around frantic in the middle of the road. I could smell the alcohol when I got within about 10 feet of her. I was pretty mad at this point. Anyway, the cops came and all that.

After the event was over, the adrenaline subsided and I started thinking about things. What was the last thing I said to my wife, my son, my neighbor? How would those close to me remember me? How would those NOT so close to me remember me? Would they remember me? Do I care if they remember me? Did I do enough to ensure that my son knew for the rest of his life that I loved him? I don't think we fully appreciate how close we are to death at any given moment.

We go to bed, wake up, live a mediocre existence--wash, rinse, repeat. How do I stop that cycle? What am I doing to make my life extraordinary? What am I doing to make someone else's life extraordinary? Can I make life extraordinary without spending a ton of money or travelling to exotic locales?

I wrote a Facebook post the other day about a crossing guard at my son's school. She lives an extraordinary life as a crossing guard. EVERY morning she helps kids get to school and parents get away from school without anyone getting injured. No matter the weather, she has a smile on her face--a real smile--a really big smile. She does her job well and she waves back if you wave to her. If you wave to her, her smile gets even bigger. That is someone living a normal life but making it extraordinary. You can't help it, her smile is infectious and for just a few moments, your life is better because of her.

So again, are you living an extraordinary life? It has nothing to do with circumstances but everything to do with outlook, attitude and choice. You decide if you want to be extraordinary. You decide if you want to make someone else's life better. You decide to make every moment count for something. You decide how others will remember you.

Life

It's a little surreal seeing pictures of the boardwalk in Atlantic City. I was literally JUST on it not even 2 weeks ago and now it is basically gone. Too bad too, it was pretty cool. Storms never cease to amaze me and terrify me. So much power.

My friends Chris and Manika Logue are going through a rough time right now. Their son Ryan is in the hospital. Ryan is such a cool guy. He has muscular dystrophy but is absolutely not held back by it. He is in a wheelchair and is visibly affected by this disease but his spirit, his mind and his resolve are so strong, so incredibly strong that it is hard to even consider him handicapped. He is a model for the rest of us to follow and I am truly blessed to be even a small part of his life. For the last several days, he has been fighting for his life. He is at Vandy Kid's Hospital (unfortunately he has spent a lot of time there in his short life) and is with some of the best docs in existence. Just yesterday he started showing some really strong signs of improvement. All we can say is praise God and Lord keep helping him improve. Meanwhile, his baby sister also got sick and had to spend time at Vandy. When it rains, it pours, eh Chris and Manika! You know, for a lot of folks, kids like Ryan remind them how blessed they are to be healthy. I look at Ryan in a different way, I am blessed to know people like Ryan. He reminds me just how tough human beings can be. He gives me hope that when I am faced with something terrible, I can dig in and find the strength to fight it. We love you guys so much and admire your strength and courage. I only wish there was a way we could help.

Tonight is Trunk or Treat at church. We are dressing as the Smores family again only this time we are also cooking smores. So we are cannibal smores--ooooohhhhhh scary.

I've hit a small lull in business over the past week or so. I had 13 contracts pending at one point. I am down to 6 right now with another on the way (hopefully).

Weichert Realtors, The Andrews Group will be hosting a trivia night fundraiser for St. Jude's in the next few months. I am emceeing the event and will also be creating the questions. It will be a BLAST and we would love to have you. More details soon.

I will leave you with this discussion: In 6 days we elect the man (in this case) that will be president for the next 4 years. Regardless of who wins, what can you do, personally, to make this country better?

Traditions

This is the very first guest post for www.harmonworksharder.com by none other than the beautiful Cynthia W. Harmon, Realtor Supreme with Weichert Realtors the Andrews Group.  She is also Banker extroidinaire at US Bank in the Smyrna Publix on Sam Ridley Parkway and an amazing Wife and Mother to 2 charming children...(yes, i wrote that intro myself...how did you like it?) 

We are Harmon’s, and we can have Easter any time we want!" Sound familiar to your family? Being blessed to have all our grandparents still living when we started dating, Jonathan and I had 4 different family gatherings to make it to on Easter Sunday in the year 2000. After that very stressful Sunday with really full bellies, we decided some adjustments had to be made, and we started some new holiday traditions. For example, the Waldron’s (My father's side of the family) have Thanksgiving the second Saturday in November. It's a little strange to my boss when I ask off work for Thanksgiving on that Saturday; I just tell her "We are Waldron’s, and we can have Thanksgiving any time we want!" That opens up the 4th weekend in November for Jonathan's side of the family on Turkey Day, Shopping on Friday, and the Duggin’s (my mom's side of the family) on Saturday. In addition to celebrating Thanksgiving on the 2nd Saturday in November, the Waldron's also celebrate Independence Day somewhere around the 14th of July, which happens to be Bastile Day (French Independence Day) as well as Jonathan's birthday. Perhaps this tradition started because we are frugal (it's okay to read that as *cheap, we don't mind) and want to save money on fireworks and watermelon, or maybe it started because we just couldn't all get together around the 4th of July. Either way, I still get the strange look from my boss when I request off work for Bastille Day; but isn't life all about having fun and making some great memories? What strange or fun traditions do you have with your family?

June Blog

So, it is now June. WOW! We had a great vacation at the end of May to the House of Mouse. Jonas almost drowned, we all spent too much money and ate too much but a ton of memories were made and it was well worth it. For more info, read Cindy's blog.

I am organizing a community yard sale this weekend. I sent out a postcard to over 300 of my closest neighbors inviting them to host a yard sale and I would do the marketing. Not a single one responded. Oh well. I am doing it anyway and they can benefit from it. It should be a pretty good sale so come by if you can Friday and Saturday from 8 AM till about 4 PM.

I have decided to sell my motorcycle. I want the money (and remodelling on the house) more than I want my bike. I will probably buy a cheaper Japanese type bike. Its going to be fine. I keep telling myself that.

I have assumed the position of the college ministry leader at church. Its pretty cool so far. I am assembling a great team to help with that ministry. It is a fantastic group of college "kids." I love being around them. JP (the youth minister) is helping with a "transition" class right now where we are introducing the newly graduated high schoolers to the college class. We have been covering Romans 12 one verse at a time (started with verse 9). We relate it to college life. So far the conversations have been awesome. If you have not read these verses in a while (or ever) you should, right now. Stop reading my blog and go read Romans 12:9-21. Extremely powerful, relevant verses about how to live.

As for real estate, it is going very well. I have closed 6 deals so far and have 3 pending right now. We got my oldest listing under contract this weekend. I have also picked up several new listings in the past few weeks. I need to get some of them sold. Check out my website for a list of my listings. I would love to work with someone I know on these. All of my listings are pretty nice. None of them really need much TLC. I just listed a home over in The Foothills subdivision in Murfreesboro. It is awesome! One owner (built in 1989) and in pristine condition.

One more thing, in about 2 weeks my fireworks tent will open. I am excited about it. I hope to do better than last year. I know the calendar is in our favor. Tracey Rinehart will be my partner on this again. We work well together. I know last year I got busy with real estate at the same time. I am sure this will happen again. The good news is, however, I have more help this year on both real estate and on fireworks. Cindy is getting her license for real estate and my new friend "big sister" Ann Rupp is here from New Jersey. It's good to have people to lean on!