It's hard to believe it's been a year since my bike accident. The memory feels further away than that. Maybe it's bec so much has happened since then in so many fronts. It's amazing to think about how different that whole day could have done. The course of that 20 hours from the side of the road to the emergency department certainly impacted me, but all things considered I left fairly intact. The broken bones in my face hid out of sight. A black eye and mild scrap really were the only indicators of the internal damage.
I'll hold onto the moment late in the evening when the surgeon came in and performed a few bedside tests and asked me more than once in more than one way about my vision. "Any changes in your vision?" "Can you look right... Left... OK"
I remember looking at the CT scan and having the NP point out the breaks. "Here, here, here". Yes, even my a mature understanding of imagining allowed me to see it.
All this time waiting in the emergency department with nothing to eat because I might have surgery. I listened to Thomas Mertons 7 Story Mountain. Took a nap. And just waited.
I suspect I still. Would have healed even if surgery would have been in order, but I'm doubtful I could have run a half marathon 2 weeks later or raced a sailboat for 44 hours two months later. The path of. The past year would have been significantly different. It's impossible for me to really know how close I may have been to that other path. If I would have fallen a few inches one way what would have happened then?
I can only continue to wonder at the "what if" scenerios to the extent it builds gratitude for the Divine protection given in that moment of darkness. I'm sure scientist would like to explain my outcome as pure luck, but having lived through the moment, it's made me more certainly of a Guardian Angel helping;not in some Hallmark movie kind of way, but in a tangible and mysterious way that can be accounted through a faith that is beyond mere naivety.
Reflecting on the incidents of last year and all that has followed since deepens my gratitude for the gifts that come with each day. Good health. Interesting family,caring friends, and so much more.