Fragility of Life

This past week was a big reminder to me of the fragility of life. On Tuesday, I was driving with the boys in the van and was nearly in an accident that I fear would have changed our lives forever. I was turning left and the light turned green; it was my turn. I was the first car to pull out into the intersection and thankfully pulled out fast enough because a car came barreling thru a very red light and nearly missed us. There was no one behind us and thankfully so because they would have been hit for sure. Had he hit us, he would have t-boned the car on my side where Noah is directly behind me and Jacob is in the far back row. He was traveling at least 40 mph and didn't even hit the brakes. He had no idea how close he came to injuring/killing us. I was stunned at first and by the time I reached the next light, I was shaking and could hardly drive. Thankfully, I was at my destination. I parked the car, teared up and began to pray, thanking God for sparing our lives! I hugged my boys endlessly the rest of the day.

It is hard to know how our lives would have changed if God had not spared us. It was good reminder to me of the responsibility I have every time I get behind the wheel with those 3 boys in the van. On Friday, this was driven home when a doctor who was a year behind Brian in medical school was killed in a car accident in Omaha. He was driving his 2 boys to school and was hit head on by a drunk driver. The boys were not killed, but the father was killed instantly. He was a Radiology Resident and was going to do a fellowship down in Texas next year. He and his wife had just had a baby boy a few months ago. The similarities to our life was erie and hit a little too close to home.

I just finished my x-ray CE's for my license last week. I had 24 CE's to complete to keep my license current. Brian was giving me a hard time for doing it all and wondering why I was keeping my license when I have no intention of ever doing x-rays again. That doctor's death was a reminder as to why I won't ever let my license expire. I will always keep my license for 2 reasons. One, I worked too hard for that license/degree to throw it away and two, because if Brian was ever killed or severely injured, I would need that license to get a job again. You never what the future holds and I need some security in knowing that I could raise these boys on my own. Brian's life insurance would only get us so far!

So, today I am thankful for my life, Brian's life and my boys' lives! We never know when our time on earth is up, but we must live each day as if it were our last! Jacob asked me last week if we were going to meet Jesus, God and Mary soon? It is the childlike approach that we should all emulate. When he asked that, my human heart said "Oh not anytime soon I hope because I'm not ready" and yet we should live each day preparing and being ready for the end! No doubt that life in Heaven will be far better than life here on Earth, but I'm not ready for my time with my boys to be up. I can only hope that God has plans for long lives for all of us here on Earth doing His work!