Lessons From Hurricane Ike

[Written three days after the Lehman Brothers collapse began the 2008 financial meltdown]

It's Wednesday night in Cincinnati, where about 1/3 of the city is still without electricity three days after a storm blew through on Sunday. I'm back online, though it's dial-up since Time Warner hasn't repaired the cable yet. At one time, 90% of the entire metropolitan areas was without electricity. Here are some of the strange things about the last 3-1/2 days or so:

1) The city was knocked out by a "storm" where it didn't rain, it didn't snow, it didn't freeze and it didn't flood. Heck, it wasn't even cloudy. All we had were sustained winds that reached 55 mph in places, with gusts as high as 86 mph, thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Ike. Trees and power lines are down everywhere. The two most precious commodities have been ice and gasoline (I waited an hour and 20 minutes for gas at 11 pm on Monday - when the lines were "short").

2) The kids have been off school for three days, but without electricity or cable - and with sunny, 75 degree weather - they've had to resort to playing football, riding bikes, throwing frisbees and walking dogs instead of watching TV and playing video games. It's amazing to see how many kids actually live around here when they're all outside.

3) I haven't been able to check my portfolio or watch CNBC, so...

4) I got to take my son fishing on a Wednesday morning in September.

You know what I've learned?

The sky is still blue, the fish still bite, the kids have lots of interesting things to say when they're not glued to an electronic device and it's nice to just sit with my wife. I've learned how neighbors will help with gas for a generator or share space in their refrigerator if they're lucky enough to have electricity. Food cooked on a grill is especially tasty when it's the only option you have.

The most important lesson? I've found I'm a lot richer than I thought I was last Friday, regardless of what's happened in the market the past few days.

So, no matter how stressed or worried or scared you might be because of what's happening in the market, take a moment and reflect on your family, friends and all the good things in life. Then ask if you'd trade them for all the money you might have lost since Monday.

My guess is you wouldn't. Be thankful.