"Everything

in this life happens for a reason. You may not understand why at the time,

but looking back years from now, it'll be clear to you."

This was just

one of many gems of information which my dad passed onto me while we resided

at 110 Flamingo Street. I had just crashed and lost the annual Start of

the Summer Bike Race.

The Red Stinger

sat in the garage, with front wheel bent and right peddle torn off from

the accident. Me? Except for a couple of "skint" knees, a cut

hand and a bruised ego I came out of the crash okay. I told my dad that

during the last turn Down-The-Street Bully Brad had ran into me just so

I wouldn't win. "I want another chance at that race Dad, I want a

do over."

Dad brushed

off the dirt and washed off the blood, and said, "Son you did the

best you could. In life there're no do-overs. There's another race at

the end of the summer; you'll try again then."

In real life

there're no do-overs, but what if there were? What would you do over?

If you could

do over one thing in your life, what would it be? Would you do-over the

Algebra II math final you didn't pass your senior year of high school?

How about your first kiss, your first date, or even the first time you

wrecked your dad's car?

If you could,

would you changed who you married, have more or less children, or not

have that big fight with your spouse that led to you getting a divorce?

If you could pick one thing in your life, just what would you do-over?

Would you change

your profession, stay in shape while you were young to avoid that operation

when you got old, or invest in Microsoft and Home Depot twenty years ago?

Would you listen more to your mom or to your dad? Would you pay more attention

to your teachers in school, your football coach or your college professor?

Would you have bought a house in the neighborhood you're now in, or in

the neighborhood across town?

If you change

any one thing in your life, it will change everything. So just what would

you change?

If you didn't

wreck your dad's car, he wouldn't have made you walk for three months

and you wouldn't have learned the valuable lesson of freedom and responsibility.

The same lesson you're teaching your kids. (Plus you wouldn't have gotten

that new car from your dad on your birthday.) You say you would change

the person you married because after two kids and ten years of fighting,

you got a divorce? If you didn't marry, you wouldn't have those wonderful

children, and they make life worth living. Changing one thing changes

everything.

If you change

your job, just what would you do for a living? I meet teachers who wish

they were firefighters. They believe the job to be honorable, and they

want to be an American hero. They want to run into burning buildings,

fight brush fires, rescue people from wrecked cars, and drive ambulances.

They want to make a real difference and help save people one life at a

time.

I know a firefighter

who wishes he was a teacher, so he could walk into a classroom and help

save 25 lives at one time and make a real difference. The influence of

a teacher continues for a lifetime. What more honorable profession could

there be than to educate the future of America? It was a high school coach

who taught me when I get knocked down, to get back up and try again -

something I've been doing for over forty years. No matter what your profession,

you have an influence on people. But if you could, what would you do-over?

One sentence,

one word is all it takes for you to influence another. Have you said something

to your wife or husband or your children you wish you could do-over? Everyone

makes mistakes; heck, that's why there are erasers on the end of pencils.

In real life there're not any do-overs. You will only be in high school

once, only in college once, and only married once. (Okay, maybe twice

on that last one.) So you better make the best of whatever stage of life

you're 'cause nobody gets a do-over.

Another gem

from Dad: "Don't keep looking back, or you won't see the bus that's

about to run you over." What would I change if I could have a do-over?

As a firefighter, I would change that car crash where the person who wasn't

wearing a seat belt died. As an eight year-old, I would've let more air

out of Down-The-Street Bully Brad's bike tires. At the finish line of

the End of the Summer Bike Race, he still beat me by two bike lengths.

[Rick Ryckeley

is employed by the Fayette County Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

He can be reached at [email protected].]