Today I witnessed a terrible accident on the highway.  All of the cars and trucks including mine slammed on their brakes.  Brakes screamed, skid marks lined the highway and while several cars almost hit each other and one guy did a 360 in the middle of the road, miraculously no one hit each other.

The car that caused this mayhem crossed over both lanes and came to a stop in the grass.  An EMT who happened to be driving and several good samaritans pulled off the road and ran to help as did I.  The woman inside the car was unresponsive.  The EMT smashed her window to get inside the car while I and another person called 911.   Another EMT driving on the other side of the highway stopped to help.  Finally, after 10 minutes the police arrived.  Thank goodness for the EMTS and the people that stopped.   I don’t know what happened to her or what the outcome was.  There was nothing more I could do so I drove off slowly, shaking and trembling.

Who was she? Where had she been going? Who was waiting for her?  Was she somebody’s mother, aunt, sister, grandmother, friend?  Is she ok?  Did she pass on?  Many people’s lives changed in that moment, in that instant.

For me in addition to being a terrible event it is a wake up call, a reminder about how fragile life is, about keeping perspective.  In the end for me it’s about the journey, about reaching out to people, about being a loving mother and friend, and about making a difference.