Life can change in the blink of an eye. I had heard the expression before, but it never really hit home until Saturday night.

I was driving down the dark, frigid street feeling great with visions of “good things” on my mind.  Those “good things” all were replaced by horror the moment I saw the car racing toward me. In those 2 seconds before the car hit me, I thought I would die. My first thought after the collision was “I’m okay, I’m still alive.” The time in between was a blur. I can’t remember a thing except for being smashed around in my car and hitting my head.  It happened so fast. In the blink of an eye my car was broken and my body hurt.

The driver must have been going about 80 to 100 km an hour. I didn’t see him coming because he seemed to come out of nowhere. He had run through a double set of red lights while speeding and he smashed into me twice. The impact set my car twirling around in a circle and he hit me on the front and the back of the driver side of my car. I don’t even know where the original impact was. In fact, I never realized that he had hit me twice or that I had twirled around until after the accident when I saw the damage on the front and the back of my car. I told the fire fighter that I would just drive the car home. I thought it was fine. I had no idea.

My body hurts from my head down to my knees but the worst part was the shock of it all. My brain seemed to need time to process what had happened and it left me feeling out of control and weepy. I was completely overwhelmed with what had happened and also what I had to do in the next few days; go to Autopac, rent a car, go the doctor, the chiropractor, the insurance broker the yard where my car had been towed to and the list goes on and on.

I could not have managed the first 24 hours if it were not for my friends and family. I have never in my life felt both so overwhelmed and upset and at the same time, so blessed. My brother came to get me, a friend stayed with me over night, and then I was on the phone from 9:00 a.m. until midnight yesterday (Sunday.) I had 2 friends come and visit. I had numerous offers of help. I felt totally supported and I was able to hold it together. Thank you to all those people who phoned me and checked up on me. You have no idea how grateful I am. I could not have gotten through this without you.

Today (Monday) I am alright emotionally. The pain is there. It is pain. I can deal with it. I have done a lot of the work that needed to be done. I still have more to attend to but I don’t feel overwhelmed by it all.

I am a person who looks for meaning in events. I don’t believe the Universe is a random place. I believe that I need to learn and grow from this experience. And I also believe that my Guardian Angel saved me from being hit on the driver side door. It could have been so much worse. I could have broken bones and cuts or be dead. But it wasn’t my time.