January 9, 2011 In a flash.....

January 9, 2011

In a moment, anything can change!

Yesterday, Garbrielle Giffords was shot in the head, five other people were shot to death, and several others were wounded, in just moments.

Last night, my sister’s bathroom caught fire - luckily, while she was in the house.

This morning, while standing outside a building and talking with a woman before heading into a meditation, a huge crash, collision, took place on the street just feet away from where we stood. The sound, on an otherwise still and quiet morning, was alarming! Electrifying! Shocking! It took her just a second to jump into assistance mode, running out into the street to see how the drivers of the two cars were. There was a part of me that held back, uncertain of the danger level still possible - one of the cars was smoking, and the other had run up on the sidewalk and knocked over a street light! Actually, scraped it off its base on the curb, and pushed it several feet further down the sidewalk with the front of her car. So the very long and large light pole was leaning on her car, very precariously, I thought, and held with it all the power lines attached to it in a very tentative place. It was scary, to say the least. But once I surveyed the situation and took a breath, I ran over to the woman walking away from her car, found her a bench and some water, and got a puppy out of the second car. Ugh. Everyone looked so stunned, and not really able to make sense of the whole thing. It was so unnerving to me, I cannot imagine how the drivers felt!!! Both drivers were physically “OK” and were able to walk and talk, and there were no other cars on the road, so no one else was involved or hurt.

Eventually, the police showed up, followed by the necessary rescue truck and fire truck, then ultimately, the tow trucks and street clean-up crew. Both cars were totaled. By then, reports had been taken, forms filled out, and phone calls made. A couple of neighborhood boys were practicing their skateboard stunts in the parking lot, a few onlookers were hanging around, and family members of each of the drivers had arrived to be support and transportation home. We all just kind of walked around in a stupor until it was time for all of us to go our separate ways.

It was a strange and somehow beautiful time. It definitely felt like a “God moment” for all of us. None of our lives will ever be the same. It has given me yet another chance to see how empty the worries of tomorrow can be. How being right here, right now, is really all that there is, and it is an important time, and it can change to something REALLY different in the blink of an eye. I hope that I can remember this later today, tomorrow, every moment. For now, it is good to be where I am.

Blessings of hope and healing for all those who suffer today, any day. Amen.