A Year From Now
On my weekly walk to see my granddaughter, I go past an interior design store that has this huge picture in its front window.
I like to stop and pick one of the phrases, then think how I can live it out.
Some phrases are easier than others. Such as, “Kindness is a gift. Pass it on.”
This week, I looked at the picture and noticed this one:
Ask yourself this question: Will this matter a year from now?
It immediately reminded me of Bonnie, our faithful insurance agent from long ago.
It’s a long story, but we’d sold our home—and had moved everything out. We wanted to do a final cleaning of our outdoor pool—an automated device made that easy.
We spent the night at a hotel in town.
In the morning, we came back to turn off the pool cleaner, and to our horror, the machine had failed, causing extensive damage to the pool structure.
This led to thousands of dollars in insurance claims—and a huge disruption in our home sale.
Suddenly, instead of a friendly, easy transition, we were facing a lawsuit.
On one of the many insurance-related conversations I had with Bonnie, she gently asked, “Will this matter a year from now?”
She was right. As upsetting as it was right then, a year later it was settled.
I’ve never forgotten that conversation with Bonnie.
When situations are piled so high you can’t see beyond it—it’s a great question to ask.
