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Strategies & Market Trends : Rande Is . . . HOME -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Fuzzy who wrote (1085)	12/26/1998 10:02:00 AM
From: Rande Is	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 57584

A Christmas Story. . . As I log on and read about 11 nearby counties still without power after 3 days, I give thanks. . . imagine over Christmas. . .many will have no dinners. . .no lights on the tree. . .no music. . .and for some no heat. Happened here 5 years ago. . . I am thankful our Christmas was without major incident. . . though it was an adventure. My mistake. . .agreeing to make a silly last minute run with 2 of my new wife's 4 kids. . . to Toys R Us. On our way I swung by the grocery store. . . seems I had won 2nd place in a drawing for a really cool mountain bike . . .and instead won an 8 foot stocking filled with toys for kids 1 to 8. . . "are you sure I didn't win the bike," I asked jokingly. Our kids were too old for these wonderful gifts so as we drove, we asked God to help us find someone who needed them. Everyone's cart at Toys R Us was brimming with toys, so we decided to take the stocking home. But as we passed the town fire house, I glimpsed a man putting an armfull of something into the back of a pickup. We spun around [literally] to see where he was going. "Another 30 seconds and you would have missed me," he said. "I am taking these groceries to a poor family in the hills that has nothing." I asked if they had very young kids. He said, "yes...many." So the girls [still eyeing the toy they would have liked regardless of its intended age] joyfully handed over the stocking to the volunteer firemen that tonight would serve as Christmas Angels of mercy and joy to some unsuspecting little ones. On the way home all access roads to our house were like glass. Cars trying to drive up hills just slid back down like pinballs. . . crashing into one another...again and again as they tried to free themselves. . .I saw one stuck truck hit by 6 different cars [most of which drove away without leaving a note]. . .only a dented door and fender on our Saab, but we were unable to drive home. We now must walk nearly a mile home. . .on the glassy roads, or the icey crusted snow on the leaf filled ditches and road embankments. . . with bagfulls of heavy presents [like Sony Playstation SNE:NYSE], and groceries for Christmas dinner. . . Wife with one snow ski pole and sneakers was already on concussion watch from an earlier slip on our front lawn. . .I held her up by gripping the tops of her jeans. . .heavy bag in other hand as we made the seemingly endless trek towards home. . .heralded by neighbor's dogs. . .up and down the steep hills. . . guided by the exceptionally bright stars on the 24 degree night. . .youngest girl needed to relieve herself here and now. . .I guess there is no waiting when nature calls. We stopped. . .in the 3 seconds it took for me to switch hands, down goes the wife again. . .this time slamming her back, which has been under chiropractic care for 8 years, against the side of the frozen street. She did not want to move. . . but no cars were able to reach us where we were. . . only answer was to press on. . . I cell phoned the boys to race to our location. What a sight we must have been, as the boys [oldest became a man just weeks ago. . .youngest 10..] . .the BIG dog [retreiver] and the "pocket dog" [tibetan spaniel] came racing towards us with sleds in tow. Our heros had arrived. We struggled to stay on our feet as we loaded the sleighs with presents and food like a scene from a collaboration painting by Norman Rockwell and Salvadore Dali. Youngest girl hit the ice a half dozen times, but still had energy in store to slide down the steep inclined road on her butt. Climbing our own hill was the hardest of all. Just the night before, we laughed all the way up that hill as we would take 10 steps forward and slide backwards right back down. . . and by the time we reached the door [seemed like hours] we were hysterical with laughter. But tonight we reminisced with just a chuckle. Christmas morning. . . we all slept in. . .smiles abounded as the paper flew thru the air. . .despite the economic burden [that was far larger than I had ever imagined] of going from a family of 1 to a family of 6 just 8 months ago, we managed to please everyone. [I got a Ka-Bar U.S.M.C. knife. . .same one used in WWII. . .really cool.] Later I walked back to my car. . .battery now dead from leaving flashers on to warn others. . . man who jumped me said there were two dozen cars parked or stuck along the road . . .and even the empty parked cars were sliding into one another thru the night. . .what a mess. Wife is fine, but sore. . . and sleeping peacefully as I write this. . The kids are already planning which hill they will sled down and which 3D virtual alien enemy they will destroy. The dogs are sliding across the back yard and I am quietly tap tap tapping away. . . The Saab now sits stuck at the end of my drive where it slid into the drainage ditch as I pulled in. "And what about the after-Christmas sales today," asks the oldest girl about to turn sweet 16. Well the diesel Mercedes could take us. . . but until the snow melts there is no way to get past the stuck Saab anyway. . . . and come to think of it. . .I'd love to stay home and watch some football today. The idea of seeing a bunch of guys getting the crap beat out of them, somehow really appeals to me today. We don't always get to pick our experiences. But the bumps along the road help us appreciate the arrival. . .and make the memories that much sweeter. Rande Is. . .making memories.