You don’t need money to lead a rich life

“You don’t need money to lead a rich life. Good friends and a loving family are worth their weight in gold.”

Last week was a week about friends and family for me and it was definitely a reminder of how our friends and family really are worth their weight in gold.

From the start of the week through Thursday my husband and I hosted several couples down at Lake Powell on our houseboat. There were no kids on this trip, just the adult couples and we were able to spend several days relaxing and talking with one another away from the distractions of our normal business lives. We were able to share stories of life experiences with one another, we shared our life lessons we have learned in our lives, and we shared ideas on how each of us hope to make this world a better place going forward. Then at night we all enjoyed watching the amazing sunsets together. It was so uplifting to spend time with great people who have each accomplished incredible things in their business lives and whose entire focus is on how they can now give of their time and talents and resources to help others.

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When I returned home late Thursday afternoon I could sense that my son and his wife were feeling a huge weight of stress from juggling being back in school full force, working multiple jobs, and preparing to move into their first condo to live. I realized that one way for me to show them how much I care about them would be to roll up my sleeves and help them with their move. The two of them had to go out of town for work for a day so I decided I would surprise them by having all of their furniture and boxes moved into their condo for them before they returned home Saturday morning.

Admittedly, something I often do is commit to a final outcome before I really stop and think about how much work something is going to be for me, but once I commit to getting something done I am committed and I refuse to stop until I get it done. In this situation that meant finding two men who worked for a moving company come and carry the heaviest furniture onto a moving truck for us but I quickly realized that those two alone were never going to cut it if I was going to get this done in a single day. I was going to have to roll up my sleeves and carry and load all of the crazy heavy boxes myself and then unload them up several flights of stairs to their third floor condo (why the third floor?!). My husband jumped in and offered to help as well. We started working Friday morning at 7am and my husband and I didn’t stop until around 2:30am Saturday morning. By the time we finished my arms and legs were covered in bruises and my muscles (what little muscles I have) were incredibly sore and giving out, but I couldn’t have felt happier inside. And I could hardly wait to have my son and daughter-in-law see their surprise.

When they arrived the next morning thinking they would be walking through an empty apartment to see that the construction was finished, they instead found their new little home all put together and ready to live in. When my daughter-in-law walked in she teared up and my son was in shock – that moment made all our hard work worth it! (my son couldn’t believe his Mom had actually carried all his heavy boxes up all those flights of stairs 🙂 ). I was so happy that my goal was accomplished and that my family could feel just how much they mean to me.

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Surprising Dalton & Alexis

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One room in their cute condo

Good friends and a loving family truly are what make our lives rich! That’s why we have to take time out of our lives to show them we care about and appreciate them…and so Saturday afternoon we rushed back to our own home to host our kids and a group of 30 of their college friends for dinner and watching the college football game on TV… you can never give too much of your time to those you love.

~Amy Rees Anderson

1 Comment

  • Jane says:

    Amy, this makes my heart glow with admiration even more than I had before. You are amazing and all I can say is God bless you. What a gift you are.

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