Every once in a while something happens or you talk to someone that makes you grateful for what you have.
I had two such instances recently. About a week ago, my husband received a phone call from his best friend of 22 years saying he had been in a head-on collision with a drunk driver near CrossIron Mills mall.
We were shocked and worried but he said he was alright, just a bit sore.
The accident happened on the Balzac (Highway 566) bridge when the driver of the truck heading east hit another car and then swerved into the path of our friend’s car, hitting him head-on.
Luckily, the driver of the other vehicle was not severely injured either.
Something like this, especially so close to home, makes you realize how fragile life is and how your bad day that includes spilled coffee, technical difficulties at work and a cancelled date might not be so bad.
We could not be more thankful that our friend is OK and we hope the driver who caused the accident is prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
The second event that made me give thanks was talking to a woman for a story that ran in the Airdrie City View (visit www.airdriecityview.com and search “Formally abused woman receives help from local church” to read her story).
While I sat with “Sara” (a pseudonym used to protect her and her children) for more than two hours in her living room, I heard her harrowing story of courage and strength.
I heard about more than 15 years of seemingly unbearable torture, her struggle to raise seven children under the same roof as a violent man who could turn on them any minute and the daily turmoil she still goes through tying to afford a roof over her children’s heads with no financial help from her husband.
Both of these stories hit close to home for me.
Whether it is a freak accident seemingly chosen at random or a day-to-day struggle with the person you have chosen as your partner, life is full of scary scenarios.
This realization could make someone run and hide in their home to try and avoid getting in that car accident or meeting the wrong person but I took the news of these two stories as a chance to be thankful for everything I have.
Although you cannot predict if a drunk driver (or anyone else for that matter) is going to swerve into your lane, I am grateful for my reliable vehicle, the wonderful men and women that work in Airdrie and area emergency services and fire departments who would be there to help if I was in an accident and my family members who would nurse me back to health.
Everyday I am thankful for my kind, generous and loving husband and my heart goes out to those women who live in fear.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the two stories is that the people involved also consider themselves lucky.
Our friend started the conversation with “It could have been much worse” and he is right.
To walk away from a head-on collision with a truck when he drives a Honda Civic is bordering on some sort of miracle.
Sara is grateful to the members of Genesis Church, who are helping to raise money through bottle drives to pay her rent for a year and everyone else who has given her a hand up when she needed it along the way.
So the next time you lose your keys, stub your toe or miss your bus consider everything you have in your life that is great and count your lucky stars.
I did this week and will from now on.
