Brush with Death

At around 11:55 PM, I was getting a ride home with James, a good friend of mine.
We were chatting on the way home, passing the time and then we just spun out and hit the rail and then straightened out on the bridge, (for those in the know, from Ottawa , it's the bridge where Main St. becomes Smyth Road, literally a bridge in two senses of the word).

During that spin out I lurched forward and hit my head on the padded area above the passenger side window. I was lucky, but as we managed to get to my place in the Truck/SUV. It dawned on me. There, but for the Grace of God, go I. If it had been a few inches down or up, it could have been a much different story, my head could have smashed through the driver side window or into the much harder ceiling. I could be in a hospital bed, right now or worse, dead.

You know how they sometimes say, you see your life pass before your eyes in those moments.
There was no time for my life to pass before my eyes, it happened far too quickly, for anything so prosaic as that. I'm just glad nothing worse happened. Something interesting happened after that, James prayed in thanks for our deliverance from the accident. I didn't even think of prayer, but was still kind of stunned by what had happened.

I couldn't sleep when I got home, freeked out, shaken up and generally far to wired and queasy to think about sleep. James came in and phoned his house, and then went to change a leaking rear tire.

I stayed inside and watched television, outwardly calm, but inside I was shaking. I turned on the TV and waited a while with James, then he went out to have a smoke and wait for his mom.

All I have to say is, I'm glad to still be here. I have so much I still want to do and realized there is no time like the present to do it. I thank God for this second chance and hope I don't waste it.

When a Great one passes on

Will Eisner, the man who brought about a comic book revolution, passed away on January 3. 2005.

Raise your glasses to him, lads and lasses.

And think of him fondly, the next time you crack open a comic book.

Will Eisner, RIP.

The Herald Tribune

The Chicago Tribune