It was the summer of 2001.

I was eighteen.

And I was moving away to college.

I was a bit of a pack rat growing up, a trait I was constantly nagged about. My mom often lamented that getting rid of a few things couldn’t hurt. My dad wondered why I insisted on buying more when I already had so much. But my take on the whole thing was you can never be sure of when something might just come in handy. Plus, who doesn’t need more stuff? Isn’t having stuff what makes the world go round? And what if I was to throw something away only to find I desperately needed it a few days later?

Anyway, from clothes, to old school papers, to books, I used to keep a healthy supply of could-be-important-someday items.

I was set in this frame of thought right up to the day I moved to college. Moving away from home was a big deal for me. I wanted to make sure I had all my bases covered. To make sure I was completely prepared for college life, I naturally wanted to take EVERYTHING I owned with me. And I wanted to do it all at once. I just wanted to get it over with.

The day I left home I somehow fit everything I could imagine needing into my small Toyota Corolla. My parent’s doubt that I would be able to do this motivated me even more. That car was full-believe me! I said goodbye to my family, drove off, threw my caution to the wind, and breathed a sigh of relief to finally be away from the chains of home.

My drive to college was a total of four hours. The first two went great.

And then I hit a hill…

The beginning of my trip was a breeze, but there are steep inclines in the road I was travelling on. As I began to trek up the first steep hill, my “check engine” light came on and my car slowed to about 5 miles per hour.

I got over the right shoulder and tried to make it up the rest of the way. Unfortunately, my car pretty much stopped. It became very clear I wasn’t going to get anywhere in my current situation. Although I had all the belongings I thought I could ever need, I had nothing that could help me where I was. I had no cell phone, food, water, flashlight, or flares…yeah - pretty much nothing.

To make matters worse, it was 11:00 PM and the next town was six miles away! With no cell phone or other means of communication, I had no choice but to start walking.

To my great fortune, I’d taken about 20 steps when an Avante Windows truck driver pulled over to see if he could help (I still can’t believe he saw me at such a late hour on an unlit road). Knowing the company he was driving for, I knew he wasn’t going to kill me. So I let him help.

We found out that my car was overheating due to the large amount of weight I had bee so eager to carry. To my great fortune, the trucker was going in my direction and he offered to haul my load in his truck. After unloading my car and filling his trailer, I was back on the road. I got to college safely and all my belongings came along with me.

As I think back now, I was not only incredibly stupid as a know-it-all-eighteen-year-old, I was also extremely lucky. I made it safely that night, but how many others haven’t? Walking alone on the side of the road at 11:00 PM is not safe! I got myself into that situation by not heeding the warnings of my parents who so often tried to remind me that I didn’t need to own everything in the world much less haul it all in one trip. It’s funny that having so much meant nothing when an emergency arose. The only thing my prized possessions had to offer was a large case of roadside trouble.

With a few small changes, this situation would have been completely avoided. First, I should have listened to my parents, who, it turns out, are usually right when it comes to situations like this. I also found that with everything I owned, I had no emergency or communication devices.

I was remembering this situation the other day and it reminded me of the importance of being prepared at all times, especially during times of rest. We often get stuck at the most inopportune times in the most unlikely situations. Of course, we should be prepared for the big disasters life can bring. But being prepared when everything seems to be in order is the only way to guarantee safety and peace of mind when difficulty arises.