In an instant...

I often times think of how much we are bombarded in life.  We get so busy and overwhelmed and the days come at us faster and faster the older we get.  But sometimes things happen in life that really stop & shake you...  For me its been things like finding out that we are moving far away 4 days before my senior year, finding out my grandfather was dying of cancer, out of the blue being told my grandmother had just days to live and the most devastating of all; hearing the C word from MY doctor.... Cancer.  Some things just shake you, you grieve and you go on with your life not quite as adversly affected.  Other things make you evaluate all aspects of your life and promt you to make changes.  And sometimes something happens that reminds you how fast your life on this small little planet can end...

Last night around 11pm I turned all the lights off and crawled into bed.  I started my nightly routine of listening to something on my iPad and setting my alarm on my phone so I could wake up for work this morning.  Not 2 minutes after I laid down I heard a loud crack and explosion.  The power went out and I sat straight up in bed.  It was a noise that jostles you from the inside out.  A couple minutes later the power in my house came back on but the security light outside didnt.  I looked out the front window from my living room and noticed that the power was out across the street too.  I grabbed a knife (yes, i AM my father's daughter...) and went outside.  As I walked out my driveway I saw a few people outside looking at a car that had flipped upside down and slammed into a light pole.  It stunk outside, the transformer must have blown and that's why we lost power.  My heart sank into my stomach and I got chills.  No authorities were on the scene yet.  As I stood there paralyzed with fear/sadness/disbelief, my thoughts in my head were going a million miles a minute but it was like muffled silence.  Just then I started to hear the ring of sirens.  As they got louder and louder I could see people running as if in slow motion around the car.  I watched as the first police vehicle arrived.  Then a first ambulance arrived.  Then the second...  And a fire truck.  I stood there and watched as the medics and firemen got down on their knees to look inside the car.  I waited for the medics to pull the person from the car and load them into the ambulance.  And over the course of what seemed like forever and like I was watching it in slow motion in a movie, I watched as the first ambulance left and then the second and then I saw people walking away with heads down.  I didnt stay around to see if a coroner or medical examiner arrived on the scene...  I just walked away stunned and went back to my house.  I walked in, shut the door, crawled into bed and laid there stunned thinking to myself "did someone lose their life tonight?"... 

Our lives can end in an instant.  We dont know when, we dont know how...  Until Jehovah fixes it and we dont have to say goodbye to our loved ones, make every moment count!  Live each day to the full.  Tell people you love them: family, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, parents, children.  You never know when that opportunity will be taken away from you...

So my dear friends, I LOVE YOU!!!  I will do my best to tell you that as much as possible, but please never forget it...
~Chrissy