You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till it’s Gone

Singer/songwriter, Joni Mitchell visited Hawaii and was excited to see paradise. She arrived late at night, and the next morning she threw open the curtains and was surprised to see, instead of paradise, a parking lot.

Here are some of the lyrics to a song she wrote after that experience:

 Don’t it always seem to go

That you don’t know what you’ve got

Till it’s gone

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot

This past week I learned of the passing of my very first employee, Butch. I remember how scared I was when my husband came home and said he wanted to start his own service station and towing business. Butch currently worked at the two-bay service station and said he would stay on with us. Little did I know how valuable Butch would become to running and operating our business.

Butch was a great mechanic, but he was so much more than that. He was an employee who came to work on time every day, stayed late if needed, a great mentor, trustworthy, had a sense of humor and was just an all-around great guy. He quickly because a friend and was considered part of our family. It was a sad day when Butch retired.

I saw a post from a fellow tower about how he missed his dad, who passed away just a year ago. This tower took over the business and realized there is so much more to owning and running a towing business that getting in a tow truck. He said he wished he could get his dad’s advice on so many things.

Joni’s words “don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone,” ring true for so many things in life besides paving paradise with a parking lot.