GL

     My family often refers to our impeccable luck as the GL, or Gannon Luck.  My dad is the one responsible for this phrase as through the years he has been the recipient of more than his fair share of misfortunes!  I don't know where I would start or how I could stop, but all of us Gannon's have many stories that will certainly make most of you feel rather lucky!  My mother always counters Action each time he starts griping about another GL incident, informing him that she believes the GL stands for Gods Love, going on to point out the positives that come from every one of these misfortunes.  Not surprisingly she is almost always right, although on the surface these experiences appear to be all bad luck, if you really look at all of the details involved in them many of them have a silver lining that will make all of us smile. 
     These particular moments of GL have continued on to the next generation of Gannon's as I have been directly involved in more than I would care to admit.  Unfortunately for our spouses, they acquire the GL the moment they vow to love us unconditionally as long as we both shall live:)  Kelli used to think I was crazy when I told her of these events, until they started happening to her, even when I wasn't with her!  Eventually, whether it's in your blood or you marry into it, the GL becomes a part of you and you truly begin to understand that there really is God's Love hidden in each experience!  My latest moment is a good example.
     I have to get licensed through the state of Washington to be a crop adjuster and now that I passed the tests required for the license I had to send in some fingerprints for a background check.  This was going to be a whole new experience for me as I have never had my fingerprints taken before willingly, but those are stories for another time!  Fingerprints have come a long way since the last time I had them done, they can be done electronically now, they simply scan your print and send it right over to the state!  Seemed easy enough, certainly easier than the $52 they felt they needed to charge me!  So I scheduled an appointment at a third party testing facility that the state uses for not only fingerprints but all of their testing for licenses as well.  I arrived at my time and the waiting area was full of people there for a test and the one girl who was working at the facility was on the phone and clearly a little flustered.  She paused from her phone call briefly enough to tell me they were having computer issues and she had to get these nine people testing before she could do my prints.  My thoughts of this being quick and easy evaporated as I sat down and patiently awaited my turn.
     The place only had one girl working and she had one tech support on the land line, another tech support on her cell phone, and she was continually going back and forth from the test computers to her desk trying to get them working.  Every one in the waiting area was being quite patient as we could all tell that she was mere moments away form a total meltdown!  After one of the women waiting used the restroom and came out to inform the girl that the toilet was broken I was sure she was going to break.  I could see her stress level reaching it's breaking point as her face practically said "great, whats next!"  There was only one bathroom in the place so having an operational toilet was pretty important.  I didn't want to interrupt the girl form her never ending tech support saga so I told the woman who last used the restroom that I used to be a plumber and I would go look at it.  The toilet wasn't flushing because it was completely plugged up!  Luckily there was a plunger next to it so I picked it up and went to work, once the plug was cleared I flushed it a few times to make sure it was good to go then went back out and told everyone in the waiting area it was fixed.
     I had been there for over an hour when she finally had over half of the people waiting taking their tests and she had just enough break to say she would check out the toilet issue, when the lady who informed her it was broken told her, "don't worry about it, we have a plumber here and he fixed it already", I thought she was going to cry!  She thanked me about ten times, took my fingerprints in about five minutes, thanked me about ten more times and I was on my way.  Thanks to the GL my quick little ten minute fingerprinting took an hour and a half and also included a brief flashback to the plumbing days!  While she was taking my fingerprints though the girl said something that reminded me that this was indeed yet another form of God's Love, she said "somebody is looking out for me today, thank you!"
     I know exactly who was looking out for her, it's the same person who's looking out for all of us at all times, and no matter how difficult it may seem at the time each one of these misfortunes we encounter most certainly are God's Love!

Remember, the next time your caught in an "unlucky" situation, stop and think about it and I bet you'll find some of God's Love hidden in there for you to find, enjoy it!