life can change in a moment

i am full of words.

i just witnessed what i hope is the worst wreck i will ever see.

we were waiting at the end of the ramp on exit 28 on 185 looking to turn right when this car flew by us and went between the tires of an 18 wheeler.

that person is dead, i said, stating the obvious.

the car went all the way under the truck to what used to be the front windshield on the other side.

quickly following was an unmarked car with its blue lights on. the officer was out in a flash, but we all knew it was too late.

i told kerry to go ahead and make the turn. there was nothing for us to do and we would just be in the way.

i guess i was like everyone else who witnesses such a catastrophic event. i wanted to tell what i saw. i just couldn’t believe it.

i was betting that it was a kid. a teenager or a young man who thought getting away was cool or that a speeding ticket was to be avoided at all costs. or maybe it was a stolen car. it really doesn’t matter. whatever it was is not important anymore.

how many lives will be affected from this sad event? certainly the family of the victim. not only to deal with sudden death, but also with a mutilated body. it seems impossible that anything but  the bottom half of that human being could be left.

i don’t know if the decision to chase at such a high speed was right or wrong, but i feel certain the officer will second guess himself the rest of his life.

and what of the truck driver? at no fault at all, but constrained to the witnessing of all the consequences of this tragic event.

even the spectators, not only us who saw it happen, but all those others. i told a woman with two young girls in the restroom to take them another way if she could.

there are so many other endings this could have had.

if the car had hit anywhere but between the tires, it would certainly have shot back at us. we weren’t 15 feet away. we are probably alive by a matter of a few feet.

the truck was barely moving so that the truck stopped immediately. i feel sure that the driver with a seatbelt on was unhurt. had it hit the cab head on, the driver would very possibly have lost his (or her) life as well.

what if it had hit another car instead of a heavy 18 wheeler? both cars would have fatalities and kerry and i could still also be dead.

life can change in a moment..

i can’t help but think, too, of all the choices, significant or tiny, that make up what happens to us in life.

we left easley a day before we planned.

we decided to go to the next stop that we planned to because a sign said there was a loves there. a few miles speed either way could have put us in the path of that speeding car.

most of all, someone chose to run away at dangerous speed, and then to try to escape taking an off ramp.

all of our plans for the future are just that… plans. 

we only have this day, this moment to live a life of gratitude, to give thanks for those we love and all that we have been gifted with.

life can end in a matter of seconds..