3.29.2004

Miracles do happen!!!...

"Live today to it's fullest, for tomorrow may never come" I saw one today. I will get to that in a moment. First, from the top. Today started off really good. The morning was just beautiful, perfect weather, blue sky. (a reminder, Monday's are my day off). I surfed awhile but decided it was just too beautiful to sit at home. If there is one thing I take from my time with Tam, it is getting out and doing something even if it is just going to the park for awhile. So I got everything together and headed for the conservancy on Mountain Creek Road. To my dismay, it was closed, I had forgotten that it is closed on Monday's. Well, I decided I would go to Joe Pool Lake Dam and see if there was any spring color there. Did not find alot but I did shoot some pics of some flowers and on of these came out really good. It will be uploaded very soon for viewing. Leaving there after an hour or so I headed to Walmart for my weekly grocery shopping. Went home, cleaned the kitchen, ate lunch (salad with shrimp!!) and decided to head to 1/2 price books to sell some books Dad wanted to get rid of. It was on my way to the book store that I witnessed a miracle. The west bound side is 5 lanes wide on this street with the 2 left lanes being left turn lanes. I was in the right left turn lane (confused?) waiting for the light to turn green. i was the 2nd car in line. As the light turned green I saw this kid on a bike crossing in front of all of us waiting for the light. And he was accelerating, attempting to make it all the way across. Immediately I knew that if someone took off and did not see him they would hit him. the car in the lane on my right and in the 1st spot started to leave but saw him and stopped. but the pickup in the middle lane did not see him and took off. It seemed to last forever and yet it happened so fast, I guess because I knew what was going to happen before it happened. Anyways, the next thing I saw was shoes and the back end of a bike flying through the air. I completed my left turn, pulled into the parking lot and parked. I expected to see that kid splattered on the road, but to my disbelief, he was hobbling off the road. I crossed the road and stopped traffic for a second as I picked up his bike and one of his shoes while the man that hit him picked up the other shoe. When we got over to him he was sitting on the ground. he said he was ok but he wasn't. his left leg had a bad abrasion and another lesser abrasion. but more severe one was on the outside of his left knee and both elbows were scraped and bleeding a little. As we sat there and talked and helped him, his knee kept turning a darker shade of purple. I was going to go to a pay phone and call an ambulance and the police, but I was informed that someone had already done this. the woman that had been in the lane next to me that had pulled out but stopped before hitting him had stopped and we were discussing what we had seen. Shortly after that the police arrived followed by an ambulance. He had been saying he was ok, but as a precaution the paramedics but him on a hardboard and immobilized his head. The police took our information and said we could go. As the woman, her teenage daughter (who had started crying at the realization at what could have happened), and myself crossed the street to return to our vehicles, we commented one last time just how lucky this kid was. He is about 17 or 18 and by all means he should be dead or severly injured. I hope he realizes just what a gift he was given today and learns a lesson from this. It was nothing less than the hand of God that saved this boy and I witnessed Him in all His power and Glory firsthand. I too will learn from this experience. After going on to 1/2 price books and finding out all of these books were only worth 50 cents for the whole lot, I said they didn't have to pay me a token if they would just keep the books and dispose of them for me. I did purchase 2 books from the self help section. One is a book by Dr. Phil whom I really enjoy listening to and the other is a small book about 100 ways to slow down and enjoy life. As long as I can remember I have always been in such a rush, had so much to do and not enough time to do it. I have always done a pretty good job (or so I thought) at time management, it is just that was always so much to do. and there still is, but I am going to slow down and enjoy life more. But I also have to take care of responsibilites as well, so I will figure out how to get more quality out of my time rather than try to get more quantity of time. no matter how you slice it, there are only 24 hours in a day so more time is not an option, but I need to learn how to enjoy whatever time I do get. I have always envied professors and others that did not have to adhere to a specific schedule. I have always wanted to live where I eat when hungry, sleep when tired, and work when I needed to. I understand I cannot comepletely do that because of my work schedule but I think I am going to try to follow this as much as possibel. Work is not my whole day, only part of it. so if I come home and I am tired (honestly, I will not be able to practice this until I live in my own place again) I will go to bed. If i wake up at 2 am and want to edit photos for a couple of hours and go back to sleep for a couple, then who is to say that is wrong. It is a proven fact that naps and short spurts of sleep are more beneficial than trying to sleep long and hard all night. It is like eating. Only take what you need to get you to the next one. If I eat every 3 hours then I don't need to eat a large meal each time. Sleep can be the same way. At least I will try it. I know that I feel refreshed for 3-4 hours after waking up and then tire out. I don't know if there is something medically wrong with me or if I just don't rest properly, but I am willing to try this and find out. Time to go, what an exciting day this was. Days like today are what I want Heaven to be about. And I have not even mentioned that after returning to my car I find out that my window does not go up or down. So when I get home I spend and hour fixing that. I reacted to it very well because that is what I do now, I react to things in a positive manner.

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