Wednesday, December 16, 2015

December 16: Writing Prompt #350-By the Skin of your Teeth

Share a time when you narrowly avoided disaster.
Gosh, I’ve been pretty lucky in my short 40 years because I don’t remember any time that I narrowly avoided disaster, well, not really.  I mean, there have been close calls on things that may have changed the course of my life, but I don’t think of them as potential disasters. 
For example, I had a car wreck when I was 16. The car was totaled, but I came out with only 2 chipped front teeth….it could have been much worse, I suppose, especially considering that it was an old steel Ford pick-up against my small, gold VW Jetta.
I almost didn’t make it on the plane to Kwajalein when I discovered the day before my flight to move there that my plane ticket had been packed and shipped ahead of me. But, my mom was generous enough to purchase me another last minute ticket, and luckily they had another seat available that day. 
My second born son was conceived through emergency C-section because they were having trouble hearing his heartbeat through the monitor during labor, and it turns out he had the cord wrapped around his neck. By the expressed relief of the Chief Medical Officer at the hospital to me the morning after his birth, I would say we narrowly avoided disaster, especially considering the limitations the hospital had to help a newborn on a tiny island military base in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  They were just so happy to hear him cry out when they pulled the cord from around his neck…a bit more serious than I realized in the craziness of that emergency situation.

I know there’s been many other microseconds of time in which my life could have drastically changed…that almost head on collision, that almost slip or trip that could have resulted in major injury. We all have those moments where we sigh with relief that what almost happened didn’t, but overall, I’ve been blessed. I hope you can say the same. 

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