My life could have changed forever… in a split second. A sobering thought. That’s all it takes… a split second for a life to change. Also for a life to end.
A few days ago I was driving down a side street near my home. This is a street that I take almost daily, and it is usually deserted… with the occasional car, pedestrian, or biker. This time it offered me a wake up call.
Suddenly and out of nowhere, a kid crossed my path riding on one of those electric scooters. The kid didn’t bother to stop or even heed the posted STOP 🛑 sign…he just assumed that no car was coming. I was forced to slam the breaks so hard that they screeched. It smelled of burned rubber. Every alarm in my computerized vehicle went crazy. I managed to stop just 3 or 4 inches from the boy. My tire actually touched the scooter. Thankfully the kid was okay but of course very rattled and so was I.
Actually, I wanted to send him to his room without dinner! Seriously.
I sat there for a long time waiting for my heart rate to go back to normal, and giving thanks to all the forces out there that helped me react so fast. Also to those annoying peacocks that are always loitering around and force me to drive slower than I normally would.
I thought…“Oh my God…if I had been choosing a song in my car computer screen or even if I just would have been moving the iPhone from here to there. If I had been going just a couple of miles faster, or if a phone-call would have come in and I took my eyes off the road to see who was calling…anything”. Anything that would have taken just a second, could have made the difference between being able to stop or hitting that boy.
Maybe it was his guardian angel or mine that interceded.
That was a not-so-gentle reminder that one never knows what can happen or if our well organized plans will ever transpire. I still can’t get the image out of my head; and I know I will always remember the panicked expression in that kids’ eyes. I do pray that he will stop and look before crossing next time.
Maybe that’s why it happened. Because he needed to learn that lesson because if it happened again, the driver may be distracted… so maybe this happened to save his life.
Perhaps it was I that needed the lesson to avoid a tragedy. Making me aware of the importance of paying attention and of being in the moment.
We are all connected. It is all connected. Nothing happens by coincidence after all. Amen.
