Clinton Thomas

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. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Essays/Opinion, Clinton Thomas