| I don't know about you, but although I knew that 2019was coming to an end, I hadn'treally been thinking about itin terms of the end of a decade. That is, untilI started seeing all thenewspaper articles and television programs not only running their usualyear-end summaries, but also looking back on the entire decade. |
| Well, it definitely is not as biga deal as the turn of the century. I remember thateveryone was worried aboutY2K, and whether there would beserious computer problems related to going from 1999 to 2000. Plus, people wereworried there would be a champagneshortage. But, neither of those two "catastrophes" actually happened. |
| Seriously? People were actually worried about a champagneshortage? |
| Wine producers and retailers probably started the idea of somuch celebrating, and not enoughchampagne. Turns out there wereshortages of some of the high-end champagnes in certain places, and overallchampagne sales were up significantly. |
| I should've guessed that your memories would bebusiness-related. |
| In that instance, yes. But, you are theone who likes to travel down memory lane, notI. So, areyou reminiscingabout the past decade or just the past year? |
| Until all the media hype, Ihadn't really thought about it being a new decade. But when I did, it was bittersweetbecause the girls were 10 years younger. |
| So were you. So was I. |
| But it's different whenyou're thinking about how quickly your children grow up. Anyway, I understandthat you're not nostalgic, andyou definitely never play the "what if" game,but I find it hard to believe that youwon't reminisce, even a little, overthe past 10 years, or even the last year. |
| Our past has led us to where we are, and you can learn from it, but thatis different from reminiscing.You need to live in the present and know that it willinfluence the future. |
| But how do you learn from the past if you don't take the time – and I'm not saying a large amount of time – to thinkback about it? |
| You do that as you go, you do not think back over an entire year. Or, an entiredecade. Especially sincethose are arbitrary time periodsbased on calendars. |
| When you put it like that, it does seem a little crazy. Iguess it does make a lot more sense to just learn and make adjustmentsas you go vs. letting the"mistakes" pile up. |
| You cannot change thepast. But, what you do todaydoes impact the future. The key is finding theright balance between savoring themoment and planning for the future. |
| You'd think that as we get older, we'd learn to do things better, to approach things better, to just,well, at the risk of sounding like Melania Trump, be better.But for many of us, that'snot the case. |
| With age comesexperience, not wisdom. |
| Wow! You'reprobably going to roll your eyes at this, but I never really thought about it that way. Butit's so true. The concept of "learning from your mistakes" is something we hear a lot, especially when we're growing up.Unfortunately, I think that often stops when we become adults. |
| Learning should never stop – especially as we canlearn from both our "mistakes" and our goodexperiences. It just takes the desireto do so. |
| That sounds good, but for us "mere mortals" itcan be a little more difficult, as we tend to do things the way wealways have. We get caught up in ourday-to-day lives and before you knowit another week – another month – anotheryear – another decade has come and gone. |
| The older we get, the quicker the years seem to fly by, which makes iteven more critical to focus on what istruly important. Identifying yourvalues and priorities, and making sure your decisions align with them. |
| You make it sound so easy but, trust me, it's not. Plus, you've alwayslooked 20 years out and worked backward.For many of us that's a totally new way to look at life, especially those of us who like to reminisce. |
| At the risk of sounding like a Hallmark card, it is a new year, a time tolook forward, not backward. Put anotherway, there is a reason your frontwindshield is significantly larger than your rear-view mirror. |
| You and your car analogies. But I have toadmit it's a great visual. And I'll do my best to keep it inmind. But for now, I still can't believe it's 2020. |
| Funny thing is I started to wish you "20/20vision" in 2020,then realized it refers to "average"vision … and why would I wish anyone an average year? |
| For those of us who need glasses, 20/20 is what we strive for, and allowsus to see things much clearer. |
| In that case, I wish you 20/20 in2020. |
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| The last few days have been beautiful fall weather, and I can't help but wonder — do you ever miss having your Ferrari convertible? |
| Although some days are perfect convertible weather, given that I barely drove it the last few years I owned it, averaging less than 50 miles a year, I can honestly say, "No." In fact, I cannot even remember the last time I drove it. |
| I can't help you with that, but I'll never forget the last day we taught at KIPP Houston High School, and you drove it there. You should have seen the students' faces as you were lowering the top on it. |
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Black assets.rebelmouse.io | Funny thing is, I never took the car to KIPP because I did not want anyone to think I was showing off, but I forgot how exciting it is for motorheads to see special cars — whether new or vintage. |
| I doubt everyone crowding around your car was a motorhead, but they certainly were excited to see it. Boys AND girls! At the risk of sounding warm and fuzzy, I think the fact you not only drove a Ferrari, but also raced them, gave the girls a feeling of empowerment that they really can do anything. |
| I guess because I always worked in male-dominated industries, I got used to being the "token" woman. Regardless, I never look at things as being gender-specific. |
| That's because you never look at anything like the rest of the world does, or at least most people do. A perfect example of that is you giving Juan a ride in the Ferrari. I doubt many people would have done that. |
| It seemed only fair since he tried to make a "deal" with me the day before — a hand of poker or even a flip of a coin. If he wins, he gets a ride in the Ferrari. If I win, he will be my slave for a day. Giving him a ride in the car was a reward for having the chutzpah to try to make a deal with me. And, in the two years we taught at KIPP, of the over 200 students who took our Personal Finance & Life 101 class, he was the only one ever to do that. |
| I'll never forget how you also told them that although it may not be the proper definition for the Yiddish word "chutzpah," the real-life definition is "having balls." |
| How else would you explain it? |
| You should know, as many people have used that word to describe you. And it was consistent with the lesson we taught them about how you "confronted" Bob Weinstein (of the movie-producing Weinstein Brothers) at a conference in New York. (Granted, it was well before the #MeToo scandal.) You realized you had nothing to lose, not to mention you were well prepared. |
| In most scenarios, if you do not ask for something, you will not receive it. So, what is the risk of asking? Someone may say "no"? The way I see it, you are no worse off than before you asked. So, in reality, there is no downside risk, but there IS upside potential. They may say "yes." |
| True. And I laughed, although I wasn't surprised when everyone else started asking for a ride in the Ferrari! |
| Except Juan did not just ask for a ride. He tried to negotiate a deal. He structured it so that there was an upside for me if he lost the bet, which obviously would be the downside for him. But, what impressed me the most was that he was proactive and took a chance, albeit a long shot, to get something he wanted. |
| And given the smile on his face when you drove off, it obviously paid off. I bet, even though it has been many years, it's something he's never forgotten. |
| The lesson or the ride in the Ferrari? |
| Both. And I will go out on a limb and say I bet many of the kids standing around the car when you told Juan to jump in, and then explained why, may also remember not only that day but the importance of the lesson. |
| Then, it was a perfect day for a convertible ride. |
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