THE COLLISION

"An accident doesn't exist when it comes to automobiles.  There are only collisions.  Accidents are not preventable.  When collisions happen they're a result of poor decision making."-Some guy in a traffic school class that works for the National Safety Council.

Whether this is true or not, isn't the point of this post.

I was on my way home, family in car.  We just enjoyed a nice dinner at Mandiles in Algonquin and stopped by Meijer to pick up a few things from the store.  On our way home, a young kid didn't allow me enough time to make my turn and turned right into me.  Everyone in the car was OK.  Not much damage to my car, but the steering seems off, so I'll have to get that checked out.

When I got home, I really thought about the collision.  I thought about the speed in which it happens.  Vicki and the kids didn't see it coming.  I saw him start to turn before I completed my turn and I accelerated a little bit, but he may not have been paying attention so he bopped me.  He got the rear drivers side tire.  If I hadn't accelerated, he would have hit my door or worse yet Avery's.  The kid had to be at about 5 MPH or so.  He was leaving a stop sign.

Now think about it if the guy was cruising down the road at 35-40 MPH and hit me.  What would have happened then?

You see the point here is that it can all change for you in the blink of an eye.  Here one second, gone the next.  You may be walking across the same street you walked across for ten years, and you get hit one day.  It's good to be vigilant and watch out for oncoming cars, hazards, things like that, but I can think of one thing you need to be.

Grateful.

Always be grateful every day that God has allowed you another day to live and make the most of what you have.  That your number has not been called yet.  In a split second, you can be gone, and everyone you leave behind feels pain.  It was one split second when my mother passed out in a huge office building and help didn't reach her quick enough and just like that.  She was taken from me.  She fought for ten days to live, but she just couldn't do it.

This is why I exercise and make a conscious effort to eat right every day.  For my family.  I accept the life God has given me.  I will make the most of it and I will encourage others to think carefully about decisions.  I encourage you all to show a great deal of love to those closest to you.  It was once said to me "end every meeting with the people you care about on a positive note."  It's true.  I love my three girls and I make sure every night they know that.

A collision takes a second.  A life can be taken in a second.  However it only takes a second to express how much you love.  Take more than a second and make sure they all know.

Mike C