Second Chances

I had planned a completely different topic this week but decided to switch gears.

As some of you may or may not know, I was involved in a terrible car accident on Friday evening. My husband, daughter and I were on our way to dinner and a truck a few cars in front of us lost a mattress that was in the back of the truck. The car in front of us swerved to avoid hitting the mattress and we made a sudden stop to avoid hitting them. The car behind us didn't see us make the sudden stop and plowed into us pushing us into the car in front of us.

Thank goodness my husband and daughter made it through just fine. Out of the three cars involved, I was the only one brought to the hospital via ambulance because I instantly had back pain upon impact. They put a head support on me and strapped me to a board and off I went to the ER.

After 4 hours of lying in the emergency room and a bunch of xrays later they determined nothing was broken and I was lucky enough to walk away with a badly sprained back and neck. I of course was very happy about that news but the pain I've been enduring for the past three days and I'm sure several more days to come is a definite reminder of how lucky I was and how lucky we all were. Things could have been much worse had we not been wearing our seatbelts.

The events of Friday night really got me to thinking about second chances. Normally we don't think about stuff like this until something bad happens. We don't take the time to reflect on what kind of spouse/parent/child/sibling/employee/business person we are. We get so caught up in the day to day "stuff" of life that we don't bother to keep tabs on how we are doing in our lives with what really matters.

I know for a fact that there are many areas of my life I can improve on. Most areas in fact. This accident, painful as it was and is, could have very easily permanently injured or killed me. But it didn't. I got a second chance. I now have an opportunity to take better care of myself and my family, to be a better wife and mother, to put my business on solid ground and help it grow, and to do the things I always say "maybe later" or "someday" to.

I now have a second chance to shine in areas I've been lacking in. A chance to learn and do new things and be the person I really want to become.

Friday taught me that you might not get another opportunity to say and do things you're putting off. Today is all we are promised. I plan to start making the most of every today I am given from now on.

If you had a second chance, what would you do with it? Why not make today your second chance? I'd love to get your comments. I'd also like to take the time to thank everyone for their well wishes during my recovery. I have definitely felt the love and am so grateful to you all!

Until next week, here's to second chances!