Steemit Engagement Challenge Season 2 (Week 4)| The Worst day and the best day of my life by @patjewell

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We all get them… those good days and those bad days. Even our favorite sport teams get them all too well.

In the end, they are all part of life. I am convinced that life will be extremely boring without them.
I had a rewarding life and today I can thank my Heavenly Father for my good days far outnumbered my bad days.

BUT, then you get those WORST and BEST days. I am not persuaded that we can call them memorable as I had to think a bit. It’s like giving birth. Those unbearable pain is soon forgotten when that baby is put in your arms. Our worst days are replaced with best days and we have to fetch them from our “memory boxes” to relive them again.

On the other hand, if you ask my husband he will answer you without any hesitation that the best day was when he bought his fishing boat and the worst day was when he sold it.

The WORST day of my life

What contribute?

I could have been dead! Crime stats in South Africa is extremely high. In fact by country is rated 19th out of 193 countries and 5th on the list of 54 African countries.

I just started with a Company in which I bought shares. To enable me to do my planning etc. I worked from very early in the morning until late at night and I had to travel from one city to another, +/- 60 kilometers. Travel far, at night and as a woman; that should be enough to raise a red flag.

What went wrong?

As I left the office that evening my mom phoned me. She immediately told me to lock the doors of the cars which I did. I can remember how we actually argued about it as I was travelling on the freeway which I considered to be safe.

When I reached my suburb of residence I took the off ramp to the left. At the bottom of the off ramp was a traffic light which just turned red. I stopped behind another vehicle waiting for the light to turn green.

My phone rang and as I answered I saw someone at the window of the front passenger side. I knew he was after my phone and without hesitation I threw my phone under my seat. I immediately realized that the person saw my handbag on the seat next to me.

The next moment the window was shuttered. I grabbed my handbag and so did he. We started to struggle, not one of us wanted to let go. He punched me in my face, my neck and my arms but I wouldn’t give up. I found myself hitting back. I managed to pull my bag free and started to lean on the hooter of the car with the hope that the people car in front of me will come to my help.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a second man at the window on my side (right hand side) of the car. The difference, he had a gun. I knew I had to get away. With a man half way already in my car and one with a gun next to me my life was in serious danger. These men were not after my phone nor my handbag. No, they wanted my car.

I put my foot on the petrol pedal as hard as I could. I managed to get pass the car in front, skipped the red robot and missed the oncoming traffic. In the process I also lost the man who was half way in my car.

Through this ordeal, the woman I was speaking to on the phone could hear everything. She grabbed another phone and phoned my partner.

I just drove and drove as I wanted to get away as far as possible. Eventually I stopped at a garage. When I reached for my phone and realized there was someone on the line and that help was on its way I just started to cry. I was one hell of a lucky woman.

That is however not where it ended. My body was bruised, my eye was turning blue, my nose was bleeding and so was my hands from fighting back. Because of all the blood I had to take antiretroviral drugs for treatment against HIV/Aids. It made me so sick. For weeks I had nausea, vomiting and fever at the weirdest of times.

Will I ever forget this day? Nope.

What lessons did I learn?

• Not to travel at night as a woman by yourself
• Always listen to your mom
• Always lock your doors
• Never to park closer than 2 meters from the car in front of you
• Not to speak on your phone in your unless it has Bluetooth
• To lock your handbag or other parcels safely in the boot of your car and not where it can be seen
• These days people don’t want to get involved and will rather stay in their cars where they are safe
• To trust your instinct
• To pray as hard as you can and
• No matter what, life goes on!

"So I thought to myself that now is time to choose
I can pick myself up or I can give in to the blues
So I swore in my heart that I was never gonna lose
I would crawl until I made it 'cause I got something to prove -
Alec Benjamin - Worst Day Of My Life Lyrics "

The BEST day of my life

This such a difficult one for me as;

➡I am married
➡I have kids
➡I have grandchildren
➡I have a successful business

I cannot afford to write about one as I will have the other jumping on up and down. The safest would be to keep it formal so let’s got for my BEST day business wise.

What contribute?

As an IT company serving the real estate industry we had to be innovative and we had to give excellent service.

In 2006 my business partner came up with a brilliant idea. Let’s develop a mobile application whereby real estate agents can manage their listing anywhere and at any time.

In those days there were no such applications available as it was with the birth of Symbian Operating Systems.

^{Our mobile application}

What went right?

Each year, members of the Computer World Chairmen's Committee identify the organizations whose use of information technology has been especially noteworthy for the originality of its conception, the breadth of its vision and the significance of its benefit to society. These identified organizations are asked to contribute a case study.

From the Laureates in each of the categories, a distinguished panel of judges selects finalists. These finalists are then honoured at a special ceremony where the winners is the also announced. It is known as the “red carpet” of the IT industry.

Sybase South Africa and Hewlett Packard South Africa nominated us for our mobile application and a case study was submitted. To our surprise we were elected as finalists, a first for South Africa in the world of IT.

We were invited to attend the price giving ceremony in Washington DC, America. It was an event out of this world where we were treated like celebrities.

We lost against the Chicago Stock Exchange!

Wow! Us, this little company from a country hardly known lost against a company with billions of dollars backing them.

Will I ever forget this day? Nope.

^{The award ceremony in Washington}

What lessons did I learn?

• If you have a dream, go for it
• Never underestimate yourself
• Innovation in life and in a business is crucial for success
• Don’t give up
• Enjoy what you do and the rewards that comes with it
• Minions can swim with whales

"I didn't know if you knew
So I'm taking this chance to say
That I had the best day with you today
Taylor Swift - The Best Day"

I invite;
@msquaretk
@msquaretwins
@teukuipul87