Just a quick reminder that this weekend is the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon so pull out your pom-poms and get out there and cheer everyone on!! Go to http://www.runvictoriamarathon.com/ to check out race routes or watch them cross the finish line on live streaming video on UsedVictoria.com.   The Used team will be there helping out at the kids’ race and cheering people on as they pass Fisherman’s Wharf.  Let’s hope the rain holds off!

I’ve had lots of time to think in the weeks spent on the couch icing my knee and feeling sorry for myself – wishing that I could run or garden or even get on my hands and knees and scrub the floor.  Never thought I’d be wishing I could scrub floors.  Everyone around me has been helping and doing the things that I can’t;  I am very thankful for that.  But I am most thankful that a bum knee is all I have to be sorry about.  So as Thanksgiving nears, I can’t help but get those warm and fuzzy feelings inside for all the things I’m thankful for and remind myself that I have everything.  Literally.  Yes, I know we all wish we had more money or less debt, thicker hair or thinner thighs.  But are those things really that important?

I have also come to the conclusion that I need to make more of a difference somehow, someway.  I’m not talking necessarily about acts of charity; I’m talking about acts of significance.  On the most basic level it’s about doing something that makes a positive difference in someone’s day, however small.  It’s so simple.  Hold the door open for someone.  Thank the person who holds the door open for you.  Help someone carry their groceries.  Give the 15 cents to the kid in line at the store who doesn’t have enough money for ice cream.  Kiss your kids.  Kiss your spouse.  Kiss your dog.  Call your Grandma.  And when the bank teller/grocery clerk/barista says “Hi. How are you today” ask her how she’s doing and mean it.   It’s easy and a kind word or a thoughtful act does make a difference.

And one more thing.  Even if you only do it because it’s Thanksgiving weekend, when you strike your next Used deal, ask yourself who needs the deal more.  Sell the kid your old used bike for $10 less than you want to because you know he can’t afford a penny more.  That $10 might not mean anything to you but that bike might mean the world to that kid.