HELP!! I'M OVERWHELMED!!

Last week, I had the great joy of hosting my family from Pennsylvania who came down to enjoy a game of hockey between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Pittsburgh Penguins. I had 9 drive in Wednesday night and they all crammed into my house. I had another 50 family and friends, (yes, that’s right… 50) drive over from Jacksonville on Thursday. We had time to hang out together at my house, have some awesome food (had to serve good ol’ Carolina BBQ to my Yankee family), and then went on to the hockey game. Now luckily the 50 went back to Jacksonville right after the hockey game, but the other 9 stayed with me through Saturday and it was wonderful… simply wonderful… to hang out with my cousins who are just a ton of fun and who I don’t get to see often enough. But come Saturday morning, boy was I beat! I was sad to see them go, and yet, happy to see them go. In hindsight, I realize how overwhelming the last three days had been. I was going non stop, answering questions, providing answers, getting stuff for people, making sure everyone was comfortable and well fed. Here is an example of an average 5 minutes around all my guests…



Q: “Where do you keep your towels?”
A: “Upstairs linen closet.”

Q: “Is there any more toilet paper?”
A: “Yes, I believe in providing my guests with as much toilet paper as they need.”

Q: “Do you have any potato chips?”
A: “As a matter of fact I do… let me get those for you.”

Q: “What do you call those little flowers poking out already? We never have flowers this early in Pennsylvania.”
A: “Those are called Daffodils and they are a sure sign Spring is just around the corner.”

Q: “I’m cold. Do you have an extra blanket.”
A: “I’m on it…. but I would think being a Northerner this mild North Carolina weather would be perfect for you.”

And so forth, and so on…

Now, to the skeptical reader, it may seem that I am bashing my family. Far from it. They know I adore them. I thought I’d relay this little experience o’mine because being overwhelmed is why many people hire me to represent them after an automobile accident. When they are getting bombarded with questions, asked to provide information, getting slammed left and right by the insurance adjuster, it gets downright daunting to say the least. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… not everyone needs to hire an attorney. But a darn good reason to do so is when you are just feeling overwhelmed and out of your league. There is nothing wrong with asking for a bit of help. Now that I’m thinking about it, maybe I should have told them to find their own towels and toilet paper!!! Next time…