Recently I was reminded of what a wonderful gift life truly is to each one of us. Today is my birthday and I’m another year older; however, last night I thought I might not make it to this year’s celebration. As I drove home last night, an 18 wheeler decided that he wanted in my lane. Seeing how he was in an 18 wheeler and I was in a Toyota Camry, I decided it would be best to not fight him for the road. I allowed the car, or perhaps the car just did it, to go away from the truck after he hit me. Fortunately, I am fine and in all likelihood, my car will be fine too. As a side note, those big spokes on semi-trucks can take all the paint off your car doors – in case you were wondering – but again, nobody was hurt, and I survived which was in and of itself wonderful to me.
When the driver of the truck came back, apologized and admitted that he simply did not see me beside him, he said, “I felt a small bump and wondered what I hit.” I responded to him that the “Small bump was me.” I guess in comparison, I really was an insignificant and small bump on the road. Naturally, this statement got me to thinking about whether I was a “small bump” on the road of life.
As you can imagine, my life flashed before my eyes – you know it does that when an 18 wheeler takes over your lane and sends you off the road, but I have to admit that I was at peace. With life flashing before my eyes, I was reminded of just how blessed my life has been. It has been filled with joy, good friends, family, work, and too many hobbies and interests to even start to list. I have had supportive parents, great kids, and friends that simply cannot be replaced but can only be maintained with a long, positive history. Life has been good and no matter what the driver said about my car on the road, my life has certainly not been a “Small Bump”.
It is interesting in a way that this incident came just after a holiday of thanks and just before the most important holiday in my religion, Christmas. It is even more interesting that it came on the eve of my birthday – a day each of us sets aside to celebrate our lives.
I was able to make calls to family and say, “I’m okay.” I was able to drive away and even more importantly walk away, from what could have been a very serious accident. I was able to reflect, thank God, and to realize that as Thanksgiving closed out, my birthday was forthcoming, and Christmas was just around the corner that I have been blessed and have had a wonderful life.
During this holiday season, we will face ups and downs. Some people will face depression, and some will face fear and other troubles. We will each have our moments when we feel joy and moments of sadness -it’s all part of life. Last night, on the eve of when I would receive so many outstanding birthday wishes from around the country, across social media and by telephone and voice, I was reminded that it really is a wonderful life. None of us are “small bumps”. We all matter, and we all need to take time and reflect on our lives once in a while. Hopefully, you can take time to reflect on your life without the intervention of an 18 wheeler to remind you of just how wonderful your life really is. It’s like the Clarence once said to George Bailey in that classic movie, “You really didn’t have a bad life after all…”