You can never be too prepared ...

My mom has a 50 lbs. purse, and it is the perfect object lesson for one of her more intriguing qualities.

She has this driving need to be prepared for any eventuality. Does anyone remember Michelle Pfeiffer in that movie with George Clooney?

The main thing I remember about that movie was her purse. It was like the modern version of the carpet bag in Mary Poppins. She had everything in that thing. And better yet, she could still find all of it.

Well, my mom is the same way. And not just with her purse.

When I was in high school, she saw a program about car accidents in lakes and rivers. She learned all about the difficulties in getting out of a car when it is filling up with water.

And because her super power is being prepared, she wanted all of us to be ready, just in case we found ourselves in the same situation.

... but we lived in a desert.

(Tangent)
I grew up in Southern California, and the only river nearby was the L.A. River. If you've ever seen one of the chase scenes from the Terminator or the Italian Job, that huge concrete causeway with the little trickle of water down the center is the L.A. River.



And since there is about a mile of sand for the car to get stuck in between the road and the ocean, we were probably pretty safe there too.
(End Tangent)

But that didn't stop my mom. She bought a tool made to shatter windshields for each of our cars and Velcro-ed each of them to the driver's side visor.

She also made sure we knew how to use them. While I've never driven into a lake, I have forgotten any number of things throughout my childhood that would have been a problem had it not been for her 50 lbs. purse.

I love her for being prepared.