My AHA Moment - and I Missed It!

An Invitation!

On June 25th, I received an interesting email.  It was from a woman named Rachel who works for the company that produces the Mutual of Omaha's Aha Moment campaign.  In her email, she stated that she had come across my website (this blog!) and she “couldn't help but think” that I “might have an aha moment to share.”

Her email continued as follows:

“For the 5^th year, we’re taking our 34-foot Airstream mobile film studio on the road again for the 2014 Aha Moment Tour, visiting 20 cities across America to capture inspirational, life-changing aha moments from folks all over the country. We are headed to Great Falls, MT on July 21st and 22nd and would love to invite you to share an aha moment, and how your life has changed since. It can be about your work, your family or other life experiences. You would just have to step into the Airstream studio for a few minutes and tell your story on film to our tour producer. Your video will then be posted to www.mutualofomaha.com/aha, where you will be able to share it with your friends and family via email, Facebook and Twitter!”

I was so excited!  Not only because she had stumbled upon my blog - but because she surmised from it that I have lived an interesting enough life to have had a least one “aha moment”!  I swallowed my fear of appearing in front of a video camera, and accepted her invitation to share my aha moment.

My appointment was for last Tuesday.  I became nervous, as the date approached, but I had purchased a new blouse to wear, and I was determined to go through with the experience.

Fate intervened.

My poor car!  

I mentioned earlier on this blog that my daughter and I were recently in Portland. On our trip home, my car died in Spokane.  Died.  It wouldn't even budge, and the diagnosis was a need for a new transmission. I will spare you all the details - but the short story is that there was no way I would be able to show up for my Mutual of Omaha Aha Moment appointment on time. I had to cancel. Although I had been anxious about the experience, I was none-the-less very disappointed.

I think our lives are made up of many aha moments. After this past week, I can identify a new one.

In recent days, it has seemed as though many things have gone wrong.  I won't list them all, but here are a few of the scenarios:

Car trouble - 300 miles from home:

My daughter and I had been enjoying our time in Portland, and left there so late that it was 2:00 am when we arrived at the hotel where we had reserved a room in Spokane.  My car showed no sign of any trouble, until we were within about 500 feet of the hotel parking lot and I heard a strange noise.  We were able to drive into a parking space - and then it refused to move again.
I am grateful this car trouble did not occur on the Interstate, in the middle of the night. We were finally able to rent a car to return home, and we have received wonderful service from AAA, the towing company, and the Spokane and Helena service departments. 

A potential flood:

This past Saturday I happened to noticed our automatic sprinkler system had sprung a major leak at the backup valve on the side of our house.  My husband was out of town, but I turned the water off, and called to make an appointment to have it fixed.
Fortunately the leak was easily fixed today.  I was told that we had been very lucky our basement hadn't been flooded.

Different car - more trouble:

Within an hour of my discovery of the sprinkler leak, my daughter called me after stopping for gas, while driving our other car.  Once she filled up, she tried to start the car - and it wouldn't.  “Here we go again,” I thought. I found keys to the loaner car I am now driving and went to help her out.
Fortunately, I was able to borrow jumper cables (ours were in transit somewhere between Spokane and home) and a nice man even kindly volunteered to help us use them! The car started, and all it needed was a new battery ... which felt like a minor expense today in comparison to the fear of another faulty transmission!

My latest Aha Moment:  

• When it seems like nothing is going right, it helps to realize that circumstances could always be so much worse.  
• There really are a lot of nice and helpful people in this world.
• When you write a blog, even an inconvenient experience can be viewed as a photo opportunity!

Maybe the glass really is always half-full.

Definitely half full!

It is too early yet to tell if this week's experiences will actually change my life - but I am hopeful I have learned to be a little more willing to see the positives in any situation.

Would you accept an invitation to the Aha Moment Tour?

 What would your aha moment be?

Note: I have received no compensation of any kind from Mutual of Omaha and the opinions expressed are entirely my own.

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog.  Check them out!