Crunch!

On Saturday, about 11:40am, my friend, client and singing partner Colleen and I were on our way to perform at the local American Cancer Society Relay For Life event. We were stopped at a traffic light waiting for it to turn green when we heard screeching tires and saw, through my window, a Jeep Cherokee take the turn onto the street we were on too wide and too fast. He came straight across the island, took out the traffic light and smashed into the car to our left (we were in the second left turn lane), and that car into ours before hitting one more car in the oncoming traffic as he crossed the road and finally stopped. It was scary but everyone was OK. Most importantly, the little boy (2 or 3, perhaps) in the car seat on the impact side of the car that took the first, and worst, hit, was not injured.

The whole thing seemed surreal and it took us about an hour (after finishing up with the police and calling the organizers of the event to say we couldn't make it) to finally settle down and get on with our day. What stays with me about this are three things:

1. When you see an accident, you're glad it wasn't you. When you're in one, you're glad it wasn't someone else.

2. I'm very grateful that I'm physically well-conditioned and that it wasn't more serious. When you can walk away from something like that, you get a reminder of how fortunate you are to have all your parts in good working order.

3. Things like this happen to people every day. It's good to feel true empathy for someone who has experienced the same thing. The only way to do that is to experience it yourself.

My family has been out of state this past week, so I'd planned a trip to Half Moon Bay (south of San Francisco on the CA coast) the following day. Briefly I considered skipping it since it can be a tricky drive with lots of twists and turns on a narrow road and I was frankly a little gun-shy. But I went anyway and it was a terrific day - very peaceful and beautiful, especially when the fog cleared.

Life is precious. Sometimes we need a little reminder.