Seconds & Inches...

We are all hanging onto this life by seconds and inches...but some days we are made acutely aware of just how close death sits to us every single day.

I got a call from my bonus son yesterday, shortly after he left for work. I knew immediately something was wrong.  The call picked up and I heard, “I just totaled my truck.” Then the line went dead.  I called him back but it went straight to voicemail.  I called again, I texted. Nothing.

Knowing his route to work, I jumped in my car and began the trek up the mountain to see if I could find him.  It didn’t take long to see the disturbance of the earth, right where he and his truck went off the cliff.  I could see his tools scattered all over the road.  I turned around and parked on the side of the road, and then quite desperately began to call his name.

He answered almost immediately. I was so afraid to look over the side of the cliff, but forced myself to, in some sort of trauma laden push.

He was outside of his truck, standing.  I was immediately relieved.  

“Are you ok????”

He replied, “yes I think I am...”

There was another man down there with him, someone who had been camped along the roadside and saw the whole thing go down.  He confirmed Riley was unhurt and ok.

The man said the paramedics were on their way.

Riley climbed out of the ravine and up onto the road so the firefighters could do an initial assessment.  He really did appear to be ok.  

I called my daughter and told her what had happened.  She jumped in her car and came to us.

The paramedics arrived and did their thing.  All checked out, he was ok.  Actually there was not a scratch on him.  Not a cut, not an abrasion.  Nothing.  He was completely totally unscathed.  It was quite unbelievable. Especially considering the airbags did not deploy. Thank God for seat belts!

It is a narrow two lane road up the mountain.  There are places where the mountain meets the road.  It was on one of these types of turns that an oncoming car veered into his lane and caused him to have to overcorrect to avoid an accident.  The truck hit the side of the mountain on the back end, sending him careening into the other lane, missing the car, but heading for the embankment.  He attempted to avoid going over the side with a swift turn of the steering wheel, but that only sent him flying and then the truck flipped over and over again down the hillside coming to a stop, right side up at the bottom.

He didn’t hit the low hanging power line.  He didn’t damage any of the trees in the orchard that he landed in.  He didn’t hit the other car.  He was ok, shaken but physically unharmed.

He was cleared by the medics and firefighters.  They checked to make sure the truck was not leaking gas, and there was no danger of fire.  We waited for CHP to come and take a report.  And pondered how the hell we were going to get the truck out of there.

I hugged him as tears welled up in his eyes and thanked God he was ok.  My daughter hugged him and we all finally exhaled.  He was fine, his truck not so much.

In the end, they were able to drive the truck out of the canyon.  Which is another miracle in and of itself.  I stood on the roadside feeling super grateful he was safe, unharmed and alive.

Seconds and inches.  That was the difference yesterday between life and death.  I guess, every day, it is like this.  We are just good forgetters and even better at delusion creation where we conjure up some other reality that makes death appear far more distant and less threatening.  Truth be told, we are all just living moment by moment.

Today I wake with a grateful heart and prayers that my daughter and I will be safe as we make the trek to Arizona today.  Nothing like a crazy car wreck to make you not want to get in your car and drive for 8 hours.

I guess today, I will be more acutely aware of the seconds and inches that I am living and shall be hyper aware of just how precious and fleeting life really is.

I am relieved and grateful for his call yesterday.  I am grateful he is ok, no one and nothing was hurt or damaged other than his truck.  And I will do my best today, to walk the fine line that is measured and meted out daily in seconds and inches...

Again, still...