I was driving home from dropping P. off at school. The air outside was crisp (-5C) but it was warm inside the car and I was just a few blocks away from home. The radio was keeping me company and the song "Alive" by Edwin was playing as I pulled up to a pedestrian crosswalk in an intersection.
As I'm waiting to make my turn through the crosswalk, Edwin sings out Ain't it good to be alive and this woman walks out into the street: 30-something, blond hair, three-quarters length dress jacket, a tall coffee in her hand steaming away ... my turn signal is clicking on-off, on-off as she walks in front of my car.
And then she just collapses .. crumples over like a switch had been turned off inside her.
Straight down she went onto the pavement in a heap, her coffee hitting the ground and spraying everywhere. It was thick and white with cream (a cappuccino?). She lay face down in the coffee puddle explosion, not moving.
Ain't it good to breathe the air, Another spin around the sun...
One of her legs was twitching very slightly, but otherwise not a sign of life. The turn signal continues to click inside the car as traffic stopped so as not to run her over. People got out of their cars and ran over to help her. Thankfully there were people with some medical knowledge who started to checked her over. Calls were placed to 9-1-1, the paramedics were on their way.
On this spec of light in the universe, A little peace of love in everyone
She didn't move at all the whole time. I thought, "I hope it was 'just' a seizure and not something even more serious. Like a heart attack, a stroke, ..." Since there were other more capable people already on the scene, I moved my car out of the way as soon as it was safe to and continued on home.
Aint it good to be alive, To feel the sun strong against your face
Yes it is good to be alive. Fragile as we are, we never really know how long we have left. Right now, it's time for me to go find someone I haven't said "Hi" to or hugged in a while and fix that.
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8 comments:
Isn't it odd that it takes a moment like that sometimes to get us to truly look around at what is important..I had that moment two years ago...life is truly good..I am lucky to be alive..
Jaye
Aaron, you're so right, life's just too volatile. I just got to see this when my father died two months ago, form one day to another. One day he went jogging, the other he's dead.
Max
@max: "I just got to see this when my father died two months ago"
i'm really sorry to hear that =( i hope you and your family have been able to support each other through it ... *hugs*
Damn right Aaron... you always think, there still is time to say sorry... or to say 'you look good today', or ... I respect you as a person or...
and then suddenly it's too late. A collegue of mine (+/- 50) has been in a coma for a number of days. These moments do make you wonder about life don't they?
It's largely because we are afraid to show our emotions too quickly; especially living in a society that often punishes us for doing so.
Know what, I guess I'll
start here.
Aaron, even if I do not know you I respect your perseverance and strong beliefs as to the KDE 4 project.
And I also think it's cool of you to mention your family regularly. Good health to you and them.
Oprah (I know..GAG) says that everyone has a story...EVERY ONE..so all those people we pass on the street or in starbucks..everyone has a life story...something interesting to say..and sometimes all it takes is making eye contact...giving them a smile...I have had the BEST conversations with someone I am waiting in line with...
You just never know...
Good thoughts to discuss..
That's just plain wild.
Hope she's okay, though.
Weird.
Just yesterday I stepped out to the balcony to make a call, when I spotted three ambulances right across the street. Paramedics were trying to reanimate someone, right from the middle of nowhere. I told the person on the other end "I might just be watching somebody die". Watched the scene for a while in astonishment, a fourth ambulance arrived, sirens screaming. To me as a layman it seemed like ages resuscitating him, so I got a rather bad feeling about the outcome (I left as soon as my call was finished).
That left me with a weird feeling since. Being 28 years old that's one of the things you just don't consider in your daily life. I couldn't quite see it clearly, but I think the patient wasn't even particularly old either.
Two more surreal elements: the collapse happened right in the newly constructed ambulance driveway of a hospital. And when I got home I found a supplement on mourning in our weekly paper.
Poetic. Moving. I too am going to call up a friend to tell them how much they mean to me.
Thank you for sharing this.
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