I went for a long run this morning.  Not a real long one, just long enough.  I went out for about an hour.  I needed to do some thinking, and a run is one of the best ways to get away, clear my head and get in some thinking.

Now, I don't want appear overly dramatic, but I had a "moment" this weekend and I needed a run to address it.  Like many others, I traveled over the 4th of July holiday.  I drove from Merritt Island to Atlanta on Sunday.  My brother lives in Atlanta and I have several clients in the area, so I visit a couple of times a year to work on some business strategy and to meet with my clients here.  Normally I fly, but this time I'm staying a bit longer and wanted to bring some extra items, so I drove.  It's about 500 miles door to door.

The drive had been uneventful...and that's always good.  I was 5 hours into what was an 8 hour trip.  There was a lot of holiday traffic heading north on I-75 near Tipton, Georgia.  Going with the traffic flow meant I was traveling around 70 mph (ok, maybe 72 mph), in what was, I believe, a 65mph zone.  I was in the left lane.

The north and southbound lanes in this area are not very far apart…maybe 25 yards.  I was watching the road around me and listening to my "E-Myth Revisited" audio book when something to the left caught my attention.  A cloud of dirt and flying grass momentarily blocked my view of a pretty scary sight.

A red pickup truck, heading south, had lost control.  It went off the road at 70 mph.  It came shooting across the median, directly towards the left front on my car.   I started to brake and swerved to my right.  Just before coming across to my side of the median, it slammed off the short guardrail that I hadn't noticed until the truck bounced off of it.  My thanks to the State of Georgia!

Luckily, I saw it in time to come off the brakes before screeching to a halt in the middle of I-75, so I kept moving.  I looked in my mirrors to see what happened to the truck, but I couldn't tell.  I didn't hear or see another collision.

It took 20 minutes for the adrenaline rush to finally leave me. I wouldn't quite call it a brush with death, but it's too close for comfort for me.  For the rest of the drive, and a lot since then, I've been thinking a lot about what's important.  My run helped me with that this morning.  It also made me think of some questions.

Just like that (snap your fingers here), I could have been gone.  Did I say the right things to my loved ones the last time I saw, or talked with them?  And this one makes me angry…Is my financial house in order?

Now granted, my wife is a CPA and I'm a Certified Financial Planner™, so our house is in pretty good order.  But there are some very obvious weaknesses that shouldn't be there.  They will be corrected in short order.

Did you say the right thing to your loved ones the last time you saw them?  Is your financial house in order?  If you don't know, maybe you should go for a run.