My Most Thirst-Quenching Lottery Loss Ever!!

Last week my Mom gave me a quote from Horace Man with $2.00 clipped to it. It was payback for the lottery ticket I’d purchased on her behalf (sorry Mom, I picked the wrong numbers…yup, again!).

“Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves. We must be purposely kind and generous or we miss the best part of life’s existence. The heart that goes out of itself gets large and full of joy. We do ourselves most good by doing something for others.”

The most ironic twist: I was on the phone catching up with my mom when I passed a lemonade stand on a very hot late-morning Sunday.

As my good buddy (financial planner, fellow speaker and Harley rider) Curtis Marsh says: “You NEVER pass by a kid’s lemonade stand without supporting it!”

With these TWO good influences running through my mind, I told my mom I’d call her back, as I swung into the next street to turn around.

Reading the signs, it was 25-cents per cup of lemonade…and it was really hot out.

Waving to her Dad, who was nearby cleaning his car, I complimented him on his entrepreneurial daughter.

Good thing I’d bought two cups, as we chatted our way through the first one.

Turns out his whole family has at least one foot standing in a self-employed venture.

I like that.

These are people who ‘get it’.

I own 2 companies, and have been self-employed (at least part-time) for over 25 years.

As dark as things have been in my past (and there were days I couldn’t find the lightswitch), I’ve always been directly responsible for saving my own butt.

Sink or swim, it’s up to us.

I am not entitled to the world’s riches, and neither are you.

Whatever is happening out there, and whatever we want to receive, we need to understand that we have to go out there and earn it.

This young lady was parked in her driveway on a very hot day, earning her way toward whatever HER goals are.

It could be a new toy, it might be some new clothes…it doesn’t matter.

She’s out there in the sun, with her sign, telling the world she’s got something valuable to offer, and I respect that a whole bunch.

My friend Curtis rumbles to a stop to support his hard-working little friends as he hits the roads of Utah on his Harley.

Why?

I think we both see a little bit of ourselves in these young ones doing their best to create some smiles as they earn a few dollars.

And that makes me proud.

Elizabeth’s Dad, David, is a pretty proud guy too. You can see it in his smile.

His little one earned every bit of my $2.00 lemonade payment (again, sorry for the losing lottery ticket Mom!).

Keep the change, my friend!

How can YOU be generous today?

As Horace Mann said: “We do ourselves most good by doing something for others.”

Go ahead…quench your giving thirst!

Steve Gamlin