“You’ve learned a great lesson when you realize that
the only person you’re really competing against is yourself.”
~ Jeff Suchanek
Several years ago Crystal Heis gave me this card for my birthday. She drew us (and her dog Bianka) on the envelope. I loved it so much I put it in a frame. It sits near my alarm clock. Every morning I see our smiling stick faces and it helps me get up to face the day. Some of the funniest events in my life have happened with Crystal. Take today for instance. I couldn’t find my car. I walked floor after floor after floor of the parking garage but no where – that I remembered parking my car – was my car. (In my defense, I’d parked two different cars in that garage today, but that’s another story.) For twenty minutes I walked that six story garage without a trace of my car. Finally, I called Crystal because I’d noticed she was still in the building when I left. I caught her just as she was pulling out of her parking space. She drove down two floors and picked me up. Around we went, starting on the top floor (I was convinced I’d parked on the 4th floor). We confirmed no car on the sixth floor, no car on the fifth floor, or the fourth, or the third, or the second. Things were looking mighty bleak. I wasn’t worried about the car being gone, but I was increasingly upset that most of my Prince CDs were in it. We were headed down to the basement from the first floor when, lo and behold, there was my car not at all where I remembered parking it. We howled with laughter. As I got out of her car she looked at me all pitiful like and asked, “Can you find your way home?” More laughter. I’m so glad she gets to watch me grow old, turn grey, have hot flashes, search for words, and forget where I parked the car. If you can’t laugh about it, aging is wasted on you. I hope she remembers that when it’s her turn. See what I did there?
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