A Reminder

We had to travel to our local shopping mecca yesterday--okay, there are three major stores there, it's a mecca for these parts--because our generator went wacko. It started running super fast and the power surged through the house brightening things beyond capacity. There was some popping, some sparks, perhaps a little panic, but everything was okay. Living with alternative energy adds a new element to life.

Anyhow, we toodled along on our skinny, two lane highway for about thirty miles. Then someone flashed their lights at us. We slowed. We drove on. We wondered why this person had flashed their lights at us. Then we came to a group of cars. I looked at the truck and the woman waving her hands. Across from her was a small car on it's side. A bit further ahead was a Suburban in a ditch. An old man was wiping blood from his face. There was no police, no ambulance.

We stopped. I stayed in the car with my little one. We talked about what was happening and he didn't seem to notice much, except that his preschool teacher was one of the other people there that had stopped to help.

It took a long time for the authorities to arrive. I was worried that the old man was going to fall over. I was worried about his wife sitting in the Suburban looking so very in shock. I was wondering what was happening with the people in the little smashed car.

My husband helped take care of the people in the Suburban. He reassured them as they waited for the ambulance. He lifted the tiny woman from her car when it came time to put her on the board. He helped carry the man and woman across the ditch and into ambulance. He wanted to help the people in the small car. Unfortunatley, my husband saw his first two dead people yesterday.

It's a reminder to do the things that are important now, remind the ones you love how you feel about them, life life to the fullest.