Fellow blogger, Michele Cheplic, just wrote about the tragic loss of seven lives in the Bronx. It was a tragedy that has probably struck a chord in every heart.
And as Michele pointed out, the realization that when it comes to our time, we do not know the day nor the hour. I want to play off that a bit with another passage from the Bible that you may be familiar with, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life…” (Psalm 90:12, NIV)
Life is filled with uncertainties and while I cannot relate to the impact of a tragedy such as was experienced in the Bronx, an accident in my family this week has definitely shed some light on the reality that life can change in an instant. We really shouldn’t take any moment for granted.
Call it a coincidence or call it divine providence, I happened to be at the right place at the right time.
I was supposed to meet with my son’s recruiter this past Monday. But we got a last minute call that he had to reschedule for Tuesday at 5 p.m.
So that Tuesday, as we were approaching the parking lot where the recruiter’s office is located, a couple of ambulances and a fire truck passed by. Little did I know that the very emergency vehicles I had just seen were on their way to my sister’s house, who just happens to live a couple of miles away.
I wasn’t in the recruiter’s office for more than 5 minutes when I got a frantic phone call from my mother. She said something about my sister but she was crying so much I couldn’t understand.
It took a minute to get her to calm down enough that I could finally hear what she was trying to say, but even then the details were fuzzy. It was something about my sister hitting a tree by her house and going to the hospital.
Later I would be very grateful for how that appointment with the recruiter had been rescheduled. I was right where I needed to be.
It took just a couple of minutes to arrive at her house, which was surrounded by two ambulances, a fire truck and police. She was already inside the ambulance when I arrived. They explained she was pretty banged up but should be okay.
Then I saw her car, which was demolished. We would later find out from her mechanic that the throttle body (which has to do with the accelerator) was faulty. Her car had suddenly accelerated and she couldn’t stop it. In fact, there were skid marks from the tires, showing her attempt to brake.
It was estimated that she had hit the tree going about 30 mph. She somehow had the sense to steer away from the house and hit the tree.
My poor nephews were pretty shaken up. One of them actually witnessed his mother plow into the tree.
All of the family met at their house and then proceeded to the emergency department. In the end she was able to go home, in a lot of pain and pretty banged up in the face. She suffered bruising, swelling and burn injuries from the airbag deploying, along with a scratched cornea.
It is hard to imagine how differently this could have turned out. But the interesting thing is that as we were all gathered in the emergency room, there was something sweet about the support we were giving to one another.
It is life lessons such as this that you can never plan for. But for which make the family appreciate each other so much more. I truly hope my children got that…because we can so easily take one another for granted.
Life is short, so appreciate it all you can.
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