One of the pillars of our Rotary Club is Tom Smith.....and I got the chance to sit with him at the end of this past week....The story starts with Tom growing up in the Harrisburg suburbs with Mom and Dad and his younger brother.   Dad was a draftsman at Bethlehem Steel and Mom was a stay-at-home Mom (domestic engineer) !   Tom was a good kid.....never smoked, never got in trouble!   He knew from the 7th grade that he wanted to be an engineer.   He excelled in science and math.....And, when Tom was old enough to work, he started as a theatre usher for $0.80 - $0.90 an hour....and then he worked at Weis Markets for $1.65 an hour!   After graduating from Central Dauphin East High School, he attended Penn State in York.   Being interested in stereo components, he saw himself designing high-end amplifiers as an electrical engineer, but, after the first class, he hated it....during the summer, he interned working on surveys and handling sewer lines, and his path to civil engineering began.  Moving to Penn State's main campus, in his junior year, he met his first wife, Sharon....they continued to date and got married on graduation day!    She was a chemical engineer, Tom was a civil engineer.   Unfortunately, that marriage did not last.   He met Joanne, who was a young paralegal....they married, in the hopes of having children.....but, unfortunately, that did not happen, and the marriage dissolved.   He moved from ka job in Wyomissing to a job in Pottstown working for Bursich Associates and began night classes at Villanova to earn his Masters's degree in engineering.  He learned by working for other firms that he wanted to own his own business and be the boss. He and Bill Conver started Conver and Smith Engineering in 1989 and moved into their new building in 1994. Over the years, working with Skippack Township, he met Beth, his future bride....Beth had two boys, ....Shortly after Tom and Beth married, she became pregnant with Caitlin, who is now 31 years old...1989 Tom and Beth moved to Royersford....and in 1990, they went to their first pancake breakfast at the Hookies.  He met Bill Hoffman, who brought Tom into the Rotary and began actively planning the pancake breakfast. Tom became president of Rotary in 1996. Tom and Beth hosted several exchange students from  from Italy, France, Poland, Brazil and Venezuela.   Tom and Beth became so close to one of the students, they traveled to Gorizia, Italy, as honored guests at the wedding. In 2013, Tom and Beth became empty nesters as none of the kids "came back to the nest"...Beth started to work on the financials of Tom's engineering business.  In June 2017, it was a day that changed Tom Smith's life forever....Beth started her day with a sore throat.....when she arrived home after an appointment, she walked across the kitchen and breakfast area, and collapsed being unable to breathe.   Tom dialed 911 and performed CPR until the EMTs and his neighbor who was a nurse came over, and 2 ambulances arrived.   As the EMS worked on Beth, they noticed that Tom could not get his breath from doing CPR.   They took Beth AND Tom, each in separate ambulances to Pottstown hospital.   Beth spent 2 days in an induced coma with no brain activity.....while Tom was transported to Phoenixville to implant two stents in his heart.   Tom was transported to Pottstown to say goodbye to Beth.....the next day, he had a third stent implanted, and the next day discharged.   Caitlin came home early from Mexico on her "engagement" trip.   Sadly, Caitlin and Beth's two sons planned the funeral for their mother.   That was an event that would forever change Tom Smith.  Within one week, he came home to an empty home assuming all household responsibilities and dealing with Beth’s loss from the finances of the business and wondered if his heart was going to be okay..  He retired in 2021 and he still works on a few projects for the new firm “Bercek &  Associates”. After several years, Tom met Patty online.   Patti has a two adult children, Skylar, and a daughter, Linde with two granddaughters.   Both Tom and Patti share a love of traveling, especially in Mexico!   Tom loves to garden, and if you saw the front of his home, you would see the landscaping and understand!   He also starts seeds in his Aerogarden...Another love of Tom's is playing the drums...he has been doing it for three years, being the eldest student of Jim Dilks.  When asked who is the best drummer, Tom replied, "Neil Peart from Rush"..Tom is somewhat of an Audio Geek (audiophile) with his system of esoteric equipment upgraded since he was 16. He has 6,000 songs stored on his Roon System with artists from Pink Floyd to Frank Sinatra and classical music and pipe organs, of course. .He has a true love of music....has attended several "Brit Floyd"  concerts...(a Pink Floyd tribute band)!   Tom has a giving heart and happily, he is doing good....he has good memories of Beth, enjoys his time with Patti, and is a strong member of the Spring-ford Rotary having been on the Board as Senior member since his presidency in 1997......Thank you, Tom.   My takeaway from his story is, you never know what the plan is for your life.   You never know what tomorrow will hold, as Forest Gump said:.."Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get".