my buddy al....

i have a friend i've known forever.
he and i are really really different....
BUT there's something we have in common
that bonds us deeply.

we're always tryin' to improve.
and we both feel like we get somewhere,
then we slide and go backwards, and then
we get somewhere, and then we slide again.

what's been amazing over the years has
been how many times we've been in the same
place on the road at the same time! we still
shake our heads over it whenever it happens.

his emails have inspired me countless times.
he helps me refocus and eggs me on to go forward.

today he stunned me with the most amazing note.
i love this note. and so i've clipped his story
out of the note to share here. it's one i want
to carry with me all day.

>>>>>
A good lesson this weekend. I had to work Sunday
morning before dawn. I-95 just outside of Baltimore
suddenly turned into a 4 mile stretch of solid ice
instantly. All four lanes. One of the first cars to hit
the very beginning of the ice crashed, so emergency
vehicles were there right away. Because of that, people
that would have been driving 70 miles per hour into this
ice and met disaster, were forced to slow down. That gave
everyone time to realize that was going on. People crept
along at 5mph till Baltimore. The road leading up to the
ice was bone dry.
The person that wrecked had a bad day. Wrecked car,
insurance, how to get to work, rentals, etc.

What they don't know is that they definitely prevented a
bigger calamity, maybe even saved a life or two. And they
will never know. They just know they had a bad day. I thanked
the universe that they tipped us off. That driver was an
unknowing guidepost.

No matter how negative something seems, there is a positive.
There always is.

>>>>>>

that's my pearl for today i'm puttin' in my pocket.