embark on a nursing career and a son entering high school. Pangs of the impending empty nest began to creep into her life script, forcing her to begin considering the what-ifs. “What if I go back to graduate school? What about full-time volunteering?”

“I wanted more flexibility than my full-time job gave me,” says Pam. “Also, I wanted to do something that would give back to the world.”

The Epiphany of Change

Suddenly crisis struck, but not in the form of the midlife version. A car crash would give Pam months and months of time in a hospital bed to reflect on her second act  —  and remind her of the adage to live each year as if it’s your last. Just a week before her daughter, Susan, would be graduating from college in the spring of 2006, Pam and her husband, Bill, were driving on a rural road near their Wisconsin vacation home when they were broadsided by a truck.

Standing on the Edge

She would spend the entire summer in the hospital with internal injuries as well as damage to her legs and shoulders. Her husband sustained only minor injuries. With the wonderful care and concern of endless medical professionals, family members, and friends, Pam’s numerous injuries, surgeries, and rehabilitation gave her the incentive to renew her faith in humankind and to appreciate each new day. It also prompted her to think about paying back, doing for