Thanks that I give

Posted Nov 29th, 2010

Some years ago I was starting a new company in the healthcare field.  Sales had been building very slowly.  Money was tight, very tight.  My wife and six children were home eating top ramen.  In those days you could buy a single cup for 10-cents.  They were dividing a single cup between the seven of them.  I was driving around town in a nice Cadillac El Dorado, wearing starched shirts and using my 75-cent per minute mobile phone as needed.  All in the name of making sales.

One day I pulled in behind a restaurant to call home and tell my wife that I had failed her and the family.  As I began to dial, something caught my notice out of the corner of my eye.  My wife answered just as a man and woman, each in wheel chairs passed in front of me.  It was clear they both had multiple sclerosis but they were both happy.

I told my wife never-mind.  I’m sorry I worried her by calling in the middle of the day.

I watched as this couple attempted to hold hands and navigate their wheel chairs side-by-side up the sidewalk.

I realized at that moment that if they could enjoy their life and endure the hardships they faced everyday, my life is a breeze.  That afternoon I was able to take on three new clients.  That took our income over the top.  We had made it.

Every now and then I think of how hard it is to do what I do and then realize, compared to many others, my life is without stress or strife.  This fact was forcibly brought home to me again this weekend when we found out that a friend of ours may not live to see Christmas.

I give thanks for many things.  My wife, my children and grandchildren, my freedom, the men and women that work for C4 and the principles and values I hold fast to in the face of many over-reaching obstacles.

Obstacles are just that.  Challenges without an answer . . . yet.

I’m grateful for so many things.  Everyday I’m able to learn many more than just 1 new thing.  Everyday I get the chance to learn.

Thank you all for the privilege I have of knowing you and counting so many of you as friends.

Each of you means something to me that will always be special.