What Is One Of The Best Things You Have Done In Life

[Parche]

I for one was travelling back home from the Air Force (Minot AFB ND) Feb 15 1985
just ate in Missoula, and was driving up the mountains of Idaho/Washington
and was going to stay the night in Spokane.
Everything was clear that night, rounding the highway curve at 60mph, all of a sudden
hit black ice, in my Honda, was now driving 'sideways' still at 60mph, saw the highway
lightpole coming up fast, thought this was it, I was as good as dead, the car hit the
lightpole on the left side engine, all glass shattered.
I was still alive, so I walk up to the highway and about 4minutes later a pick up truck
hits the same black ice, and flips over on its top hitting the median.
I immediately run up there and get the 2ladies out, and we run over to the side, just
in time as a bigger pick up truck hits the same black ice and plows into their truck,
they would have been killed instantly, I saved those 2 ladies lives that night.
I ended up flying back to Portland, with all of my stuff shipped UPS!!

That is probably one of the most memorable nights in my life

[bearfan454]

1. I got sober nt

[skygazer]

2. Moved to California

Decided to do it in the morning, was driving by afternoon. From Vermont to California in a VW Golf I'd paid $400 for and $300 in my pocket. Two dogs, a bag of clothes and my saddle.

Didn't know a soul out here except one guy I'd met on the internet - never in real life.

Best move I ever made. That was 8 years ago.

[cobalt1999]

18. Wow. I'm impressed.

Not many people would have the guts to do that. I'm glad it worked out for you.

[lizziegrace]

3. Second only to the day my daughter was born, the day I left

5/4/01 after nearly 17 year of marriage. I packed what I could in my Honda and 4 months later got what would fit in a 14' UHaul. I came back to Columbus and started over.

[Debi]

4. The day I gave birth to Debi, Jr. and promised him that I'd do all in my power

to give him a good life and teach him to do the same for the next in line...:loveya:

Partnering in keeping that promise I married Mr. Debi and he adopted Debi, Jr. - we're doing pretty well, by golly :bounce:

[Deep13]

5. Wrote a letter answering a personal ad.

She described herself as quirky in the ad, so I wrote, "Dear Quirky..." I also made a color Xerox of a photo of me and my mother's husband sitting on a sofa and sent it. I labeled us "me" and "someone else." That was in 1992. She still has the letter.
:loveya:

[texas1928]

6. I helped a kid who had a diving accident and was paralyzed.

He was not eating and not talking to anyone. A friend of the family was one of his nurses and she called my parents to see if I could come home from college and talk to him. I got the weekend off from basketball practice and came home. I talked to this kid for nearly 4 hours. I did all the talking, he would not look at me. I talked to him about his wife and little baby girl. And how he was letting them down by giving up. He was letting himself down as well. He would not look at me. So I went over and slapped the underside of his bed. He was on one of those tilting beds. He flinched and looked at me, he was angry. I told him good, get angry at me, yell at me. Show some life, you still have life in you, and you have a lot to live for. I left there not knowing if I had done any good.

Our friend called the next day, it was Sunday, and said he asked to speak to his wife and mother. He said he was hungry and ate three hamburgers by the end of Sunday evening. He was actually smiling and talking again. I have not heard about him in a long time. I hope he is still doing good. It made me feel good that I could make a difference in someones life.

[LeftyFingerPop]

7. Two things that dovetailed off each other...

Taking care of my mom when it was just me and her after my dad died when I was 11, and then putting myself through college financially, Phi Beta Kappa.

[Writer]

8. Single, 24 years-old, moving myself to New York City in 1999.

[fudge stripe cookays]

9. I have three that have changed my life...

1. After drifting aimlessly in my jobs (mostly record stores), I finally got my ask back to college and got my degree at 32.

2. Placed an ad on personalpossibilities.com and met reprehensor, who has been the best thing ever to happen to me.

3. Began piecing together my dad's family, and meeting all my wonderful third cousins. Because my family is so small and fractured, they have been my family, and all the travel for the book has expanded my horizons exponentially.

[DS1]

10. One time I clicked on a thread about Boston Market near Thanksgiving

and almost died laughing. It also helped with something else

[Midlodemocrat]

12. No joke. One of my friends goes to Cracker Barrel

for Thanksgiving every year. Four kids. She says it's easier. :wow:

Me: I love to cook Thanksgiving Dinner if only for the left-overs.

[DS1]

15. That must be expensive

How do you buy new pans every year? :evilgrin:

[Midlodemocrat]

16. I know there's a joke there somewhere, but I don't get it.

:cry:

[DS1]

19. It was a classic corarose thread

A person supposedly attending culinary school and getting very high marks from her Chef was asking what to do about having turkey for Thanksgiving.

The chief complaint was that cooking at home was more expensive than going to the Boston Market and getting a turkey dinner


It turns out that some of the supplies this supposed aspiring chef did not have at home, and would need to buy were:

Pan
Pots
Butter
Salt
A full turkey
Potatoes
Stuffing Mix
Bread
Milk
Al. Foil
Baster


and on and on and on.

Classic lounge.

She ended up having pizza ;-)

[Midlodemocrat]

22. I DO remember that!

Fortunately, with BoyMidlo living here, I have all of the aforementioned accoutrements for my kitchen.

All of the stores here are featuring autumn stuff. I love fall. And, Thanksgiving is my absolutely favorite holiday.

[SOteric]

27. *s*

[seemunkee]

11. Marrying my high school sweetheart

We dated, broke up, started seeing other again in college. It will be our silver anniversary in August

[SKKY]

13. Sacrificing any chance for advancement I might have had...

...to make sure I was there when my son was born.

[NewWaveChick1981]

14. Got my master's degree and advanced in my profession.

:) I figured it up about a year ago, and in the 21 years I've been working with students at the various schools where I've worked, I figured I'd helped 100,000 individual people get through college financially. :) Few of them probably realize the large part I played in doing that, but that's not why I do what I do. Having a well-educated population means a lot to me. :)

[soleft]

17. Gave birth to my son

Who is one really cool person.

[IndianaJones]

20. crushed my enemies....seen them driven before me....

and heard the lamentations of their women.

[bigwillq]

21. Came out of the closet.

Best thing I've ever done.

[cobalt1999]

23. Foregoing a promotion to vice-president at work.

The money would have been fantastic. However, there would have been zero home life and family time. As a typical "type A" male, trained from day one to compete and achieve, passing on it was HARD (much harder than my wife understands).

However, I've been able to go camping with my daughters, spend time with my wife, take weekends off, and actually have vacations without emails/phone calls.

Okay, we won't be rich, but we're comfortable and if I have to work a few more year until retirement, it's worth it to spend time with my daughters because they won't be young again.

[Burma Jones]

24. I stuck up for a smaller person

I'm a big guy. I've been a big guy since I was 13, when I was 5'11" and 235. I had a friend who was picked on all the time, he was barely 5 feet tall. Anyway, in Gym Class we were playing softball and one of my classmates was ragging on my friend and finally went over and shoved him on the ground. I was at bat, I told the bully, who was one of the other big guys in our class (we were the two shot putters on the track team) to come over and pick on someone his own size. He came up to the plate and punched me hard in the stomach. I didn't wince, just stood there and stared at him, bat in hand. He hit me again in the jaw, I still stood there silently. Finally, another friend of mine, a bigger guy, told the guy that he had better stop because if I took a swing at him, he would join in and help me beat the hell out of him. I said thank you, but nobody should be hitting anybody. The bully called me a faggot and went back to the outfield. He never bothered any of my friends again though. I was a big time Jesus freak back in those days and believed very much in non-violence. I did feel odd that I didn't just take the Baseball Bat and wail on him, as though that was the expected thing to do.

I played football, but my nickname was Gentle Ben, big and nice, but sometimes intimidating.

I guess I bring this up because I met my old smaller friend at my 30th HS reunion last Saturday. He's odd and lonely and a brilliant Mathematician.

[femmocrat]

25. Finishing my master's degree and resuming my teaching career.

After taking time off to have two babies, I didn't think I would ever teach again. I subbed for 12 long years before getting a full-time position! I am a living example of persistence, if nothing else! LOL

[kwassa]

26. I saved a woman from drowning without knowing any life-saving techniques.

A Japanese tourist with no English ability, in Hanauma Bay in Hawaii. She was being sucked out to sea in the undertow between two reefs, and her boyfriend was in trouble, too. I pushed her to a reef.

Nobody saw me do it, other than those two. The lifeguard showed up after the fact, on a big surfboard.



My other greatest thing was to quit smoking 23 years ago.