After
a long day of writing, I was so excited to finally take a break and meet up
with two of my favorite people, Diana and Pam! It had been a few weeks
since our last hang out session and I was really looking forward to spending
some time with my girls and just catching up on life. KIKU ( an asian habachi
restaurant nearby) is our SPOT, and my mouth was watering from the second we
decided that is where we would eat. I was about to jump in the shower when my
mother randomly popped into my head. I wanted to call her, but I
quickly dismissed it knowing I had very little time to get ready. I can be such
a "girl" and take forever, haha. Lately my intuition has been
running at an ALL TIME HIGH. Over the years however, I've learned to follow my
instincts and I have become much more aware of the
various "SIGNS" around me (finally catching up to my sister-law
Tara and my Aunt Yanick in that regard, lol.) My thoughts were rather
persistent and my mom was still on my mind even after getting out of the
shower. So I decided to pause and check-in with her. As I reached for my phone
on the charger, it started to ring and I could see mom's picture pop up on my
screen. I smiled at the coincidence and answered,
"Mom! That's SO funny I
was just about to call you!!! I've been thinking about you for the last twenty
minutes HAHA, what's up?"
"Chrisssssss...honey..."
My heart immediately dropped to my
feet as I could tell by the tone of her voice something was drastically
wrong!
"Chris, I'm ok but I just
had a serious freak accident on the Cross Bronx Expressway (I95)......a tire
just hit my car and shattered my entire windshield (sobs)..... I'm covered in
glass...oh my God...my legs..."
I was now in a full fledge panic,
but knew that I had to remain calm for her sake.
"Wait...so you're ok?!
Where are you now mom?"
My mind was racing as I
pulled on my jeans and raced to finish getting dressed. My body was on
autopilot and looking back I cannot believe how quickly I was moving.
"I don't know! (sobs)
Chris, nothing like this has ever happened to me before...I'm just
driving...I'm so scared!! I couldn't get a hold of your brother Charles...ohhhh CHRISSSSS, MY GOD!!!!!"
"Mom, please you need to
do me a favor and just take control of yourself, calm down, and pull over! I
know you are in shock but you NEED to stop driving and make sure you're ok. I'm
gonna find Todd and try calling Charles again, OK?!"
All the adrenaline in my body must
have gone straight to my legs because I had made it up two flights of stairs in
under a minute desperately looking for my sister's boyfriend for help. I quickly
realized I was home alone and without a car. My fingers trembled as I dialed my
brother Charles. A sense of relief came over me when he finally answered. For
some reason talking to Claude always makes me feel like things are gonna be ok!
I calmly explained the situation to him, and he immediately jumped in his car
to rush to the aid of our mom. I felt so helpless at this point but all i could
do was wait. I made my way back to my bathroom to finish getting ready for
dinner. I barely started brushing my teeth before finding myself sobbing on the
floor.
"Holy shit.....what just happened," I thought to myself?!?!
Most people in my position would brush something like this off once knowing the
person they care about is ok, but I could not help but think of how badly this
could have turned out. Somehow when a major accident is averted the only people
that truly understand the impact are the ones involved. For example
telling a friend, "Omg I tripped just before and almost broke my neck down
a flight of stairs." To which they usually reply "But your ok right?!
So its all good :)," quickly dismissing the severity of how bad the
situation could have been. I find this to be incredibly annoying. I quickly
pulled myself together and was out the door for my dinner date. Seeing Diana
and Pam in the driveway put a smile on my face right away and I immediately
felt comfortable. Talk about two genuinely GREAT people in my life, my
boobalas! I explained the crazy story to them as we drove to the restaurant and
they were both in complete shock. All my friends know my mother VERY WELL and
so news like this is felt on a personal level. Several calls were made back and
forth between my siblings and I, as they made their way to the scene of the
accident. Isabelle and Joe were not far from the area and therefore decided to
head over as well in order to drive my mother home later.
It was still
hard to concentrate as we sat down for dinner. Shortly after, I received a call
with an update from Charles. Usually the one to be calm and collected in these
situations, by the tone of his voice, I could tell right away that we had just
avoided a major crisis,
"Chris man, you have NO
IDEA how lucky we are that mom is still alive! If that tire had hit just an
inch higher, mom would have been killed in that accident. Im sitting in the car
now, and there is glass everywhere, the windshield is literally seconds away
from caving in!"
The
impact of his words were just too much to handle. as the all too familiar
feeling that God had ONCE AGAIN saved us hit me like a ton of bricks. I
politely excused myself from the tables as the tears streamed down my face.
Another confirmation that someone or something is protecting my family and I.
"I don't even know what
to say...this is exactly what I try to tell people everyday! I am just so happy
and grateful that she is OK! Claude...WOW..."
"Chris I know.......I
know.....we really need to be thankful and say a prayer tonight because mom was
almost taken from us. This is crazy man! I love you so much and I want to see
you soon ok?! The last few days I've been sick so I know we haven't gotten
together but trust me we'll make up for the time. Now I really realize that
life CANNOT be taken for granted! I'm still with mom now so I'll be in touch...."
As I came in
from dinner I rushed to find my mom in the house. I was instantly overcome with
tears of joy as I saw her coming down the stairs from her bedroom. The slight
possibility that I could have been visiting her in a hospital or worse, was
enough to make me extremely happy and thankful. I gave her a huge hug and
didn't let go! I've heard too many unfortunate stories in the last few months
about accidents where other families weren't so lucky. I made sure to take a
moment to APPRECIATE and CHERISH the fact that we WERE! There is
something so incredible about the bond that we share as a family. With my
parents recent divorce however, sometimes things seem so dysfunctional. BUT at
the end of the day we are STILL A FAMILY! When the shit hits the
fan we come together and we are there for each other! Nothing else matters! If
something were to happen to ANY ONE of us, we would all be
devastated. Last night my mother's life was almost taken in a freak
accident! A random tire flew off a TRUCK and shattered her
windshield in high speed traffic. Had the tire NOT hit the car bumper
first before slamming into the glass, my mother would have been dead INSTANTLY!
Take a moment to fully embrace what that means. Doing so is the only way you
will understand the gravity of my message today! My mother was saved by a
miracle tonight and there is NO DOUBT in my mind that she has a guardian angel
watching over her! No amount of words could possibly express how utterly
grateful I am that she is still with us today. However, because of the
way I choose to live MY LIFE, should God have decided it was her time, I
know FULL well that my mother would have gone into heaven knowing
EXACTLY how much I love her and just how much she means to me because I tell
her ALL THE TIME! I don't sit and wait for crazy stuff like this to
happen. Life is too precious to be taken for granted. Call me dramatic,
call me sensitive.... but I prefer the term REALISTIC! Too many people live
life as if they are invincible. They complain about all the stupid crap they've
got going on and constantly fail to appreciate their blessings in life. Trust
me, IT COULD ALWAYS BE WORSE (right Brandon?) Your ENTIRE LIFE CAN
CHANGE at any minute of any day! My mother was just casually driving
home from work, minding her own business...believe me, I've seen it one too
many times. So do yourself a favor, and express your feelings to the people you
care about. Don't wait for something terrible to happen to be kind and loving.
Mend and heal the broken relationships that are still worth saving because
sometimes it's JUST NOT WORTH IT. Forget the petty garbage, move forward,
and don't live your life with hate in your heart! They say, "you don't
realize what you've got, till its GONE"......well I certainly DO....and so
should YOU!
-Mr. Recovery
*JLA is OK everybody!!! Thank you so much for all your messages of concern! WE LOVE YOU MOM!!!
Thank god....my jla....that story gave me the chills...i love you and im happy moms ok give her my love. Great blog yet again
ReplyDeleteMan, that is wild smh. Thanks for sharing this story with us again. The pictures really put it into perspective. Thank God that He took care of your mother that evening. Stay blessed bro
ReplyDeleteThank God Jenny is Ok!
ReplyDeleteLove u guys cuz!