Original Post on August 24, 2009 at 4:45 pm · Filed under Daily Life, FAMILY, Just Life Happening
As a fan of Oprah and Eckarte Tolle and their “lessons” of living in the “NOW”, I made huge strides since reading the book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, written by Eckarte Tolle. For many varied reasons, I chose to change my behavior relating to how I acknowledge my appreciation for life, family, friends, material possessions, and life lessons. I changed being appreciative and thankful at each event or poiniant moment to being truly thankful each and everyday, every moment if I could. I’d have to say that I actually did ok with that, and I have continued, I have been honestly and truthfully thankful each day, giving thanks to my Creator and being “Extra” thankful for those special moments that are few and far between. Those moments such as births, marriages, etc. What I didn’t realize was that although I was appreciative and thankful, I hadn’t truly felt it with every inch of my being until I read the book, A New Earth…
My daughter and I were in a car accident a coupe of months ago. Amazingly, we’re all right. Physically, we were thrown around, as my car (it felt like) drove over the car that pulled out in front of us, the front end of our car totaled, the tire being bend sideways like a bendy-straw, the car landing on the remaining three tires to be hit by another car head on. It was terrifying to say the least, but the worst was seeing my six year old daughter being jossled in the seat like a rag doll, her body remained still in the seat, but her legs and arms were jossled.
My truth about this accident, is that it created several different situations that have proven to be incredible life lessons for me. First, I am thankful because we walked away from it, stiff and sore, to be expected, but in one piece, unbelievable.
I have never cried so much in my life. For a good month I couldn’t seem to get the image out of my head, it felt as though the car was moving in slow motion, and that image just kept repeating itself. I kept seeing this car pull in front of me, I keep trying to slam the brakes but the car just wouldn’t stop, and the car that pulled in front of me just kept coming towards us.
So heres the “wow” moment that I also can’t get out of my head ~ The feeling of hands as large as life holding us in our seats, the air bags didn’t go off, but the feeling of being held in a position as if to protect us from hitting any part of the interior of the car. A feeling I can’t shake either - Being so thankful for my family, my healthy children, my husband, our home, our lives.
Two days after the car accident, I am painfully reminded again of how precious life is as the news begins to broadcast the unfortunate event of four police officers being shot in the city of Oakland, only 35 minutes away. Three were gone, with the fourth being on life support so that his body could bless and save four other individuals, save their lives, only a short while later. I have prayed for their families and friends and wish them love and healing through this difficult time.
About a week later, my son, a junior at high school at the time, told me the story of the experience he had at school that day. They, the high school, had what’s called “Every 15 minutes” . As he choked back what I thought to be tears, he told me of the woman who spoke that day. She was a judge, I believe he said she worked in the traffic division of the courts. She told the story of a little girl, her little sister and mom and dad. They were driving home from dinner one night when their car was hit by a drunk driver. The mother, the father and the little sister were all lost in that accident. The only survivor was the six year old little girl. She said that she had lost so much that day, because not only did she lose her family and become an orphan, but she admitted that this story was hers. She was the little girl that survived. This was why she chose to become a judge in the traffic division of the court system. She spoke about how this affected her life. What it was like getting married and not having her parents their, not having a dad to walk her down the isle, no grandparents for her own children, or great grandparents for their children. I cried like a baby while he told me this story, as I am write now writing about it.
So what’s the moral of this blog…Be thankful, feel blessed and appreciate the life you have today! It may change in a minute, it may be different tomorrow. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I can’t wait to tell my grandchildren how much they are valued (when the time comes), I’ve all ready told my children!
Have a blessed and wonderful day!
