Two Years Ago... ( Archived) (39)

On January 27th, 2009, I met, in person for the first time, the lady who would become my wife and partner. The one that I have genuinely come to believe is my soulmate. From the time we first started communicating here on CS there were signs that we were supposed to be together and we were lucky enough to recognize them as such.

Last Sunday evening (Jan 26th) I had a bad truck wreck in Indiana. I'm still not sure what caused it, but the truck ended up on it's side in the ditch alongside I-74 outside of Shelbyville. I was still travelling probably 60mhp when it flipped and there's absolutely no reason I should have been able to walk away with no more than some serious bruising and a cracked rib... But I did.

As the truck was flipping my first thought was "Oh God, is this it? After all these years on the road, am I gonna' die in a truck wreck?" followed immediately by "Please God, don't let me die - I'm not ready to leave Jackson behind!" And I got lucky and He listened to me and cut me some slack and let me walk away with pretty minor injuries.

I learned a few things Sunday evening... I learned that no matter how good you are, things can still happen and that the law of averages applies to everybody and can't be beaten. I learned that life is easy to lose and sometimes it's just pure luck that lets you keep hanging around. And I learned that, as terrifying as it was to see the ground rushing at me sideways as the truck was sliding down the shoulder on its side, it was a pastoral view compared to the thought that I might never see my lovely wife again.

I'm home now and recuperating and Jackson is taking super good care of me as she has done since the first day we met.

And I'm not really sure what the point of this thread is except to say that if you have someone in your life that you care about, stop what you're doing right now and give them a hug. If they're not right there with you, then send them an e-mail or call them and let 'em know that you love them. It might take you all of five minutes to do it, but it only takes five seconds to miss the opportunity forever.

I'm going to bow out for a bit and make coffee so it'll be ready when Jackson wakes up. Then I'm going to take some painkillers and do some serious hugging on her. I hope everyone has a great day and takes the time to call someone or write or hug someone they care about... Life ain't always easy, but it sure beats the hell out of the alternative!