FlyLady column by Marla Cilley
In 2005, as I was anticipating turning the big 5! 0!, I decided that it was time to buy me a car that would be fun to drive. I wanted sporty, for it get good gas mileage and have with the ability to hold stuff when I traveled. Robert and I decided on a budget of under $20,000. We don’t like to buy new cars and have never. We like to call them “new to me” cars. We went shopping.
Robert found one on a used car lot with a ridiculously low price, and it was only 3 years old and within our budget. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the color, and it seemed a little sluggish changing gears. We got it anyway! I could live with the color. The sluggishness was because it was on winter shifting mode. Yippee for me!
Two months ago, when I was on a trip to Utah, my poor little car was wrecked while it was parked at the airport. A little lady turned a corner, and her foot hit the accelerator instead of the brake. She hit a truck and three other cars. I am so happy that no one was hurt in the accident. The big truck parked nose to nose with my car took it out. Robert called me with the bad news. It had a lot of damage!
The appraiser came out and inspected the car. It had to have a whole new front end, and it would have to be repainted. I was so excited, and the appraiser was in shock that I was happy. I told him I had always wanted a purple car, and now I could have it. I asked Robert to pick out a purple color for me. He chose Prowler Purple. It is a metallic dark purple.
Today I got my little two-door car back from Myers Body Shop! It is gorgeous. They were so afraid to paint it purple. I told them that purple was my color and that I would love it. They were very surprised at how good it looked. The gray interior looks great with it, too. The beauty of this is that I took a sad situation and turned it into something that would bless me and make me happy.
I didn’t throw my little car into the junk heap because it was wrecked or buy a new one. I didn’t pout about it or get upset! I would have never spent the money to have it repainted had it not been wrecked and had to be repainted anyway. The little lady did me a favor. My little car gives me good service and gets about 30 miles to the gallon of gas. I am so happy to be back in my efficient car! I like driving my purple FlyLady Mobile! I will be driving it for many more years!
You, too, can take a bad situation and find a silver lining! All it takes is a change in attitude. We have to quit feeling sorry for ourselves and look for the good that can come from the bad things that happen in our lives.
Look for the silver lining and find your wings to FLY!
For more help getting rid of your CHAOS, check out Marla Cilley’s website and join her free mentoring group at www.FlyLady.net, listen to her www.blogtalkradio.com/flylady show, or read her books, Sink Reflections, published by Bantam, and her New York Times bestselling book, Body Clutter, published by Fireside. Copyright 2008 Marla Cilley. Used by permission in this publication.
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