The Unexpected

The Unexpected

Sometimes unexpected help can be the difference between keeping your feet on the ground or being six feet under it. When I was a child I was riding my bike on serene peaceful afternoon. The wind was blowing through my hair, I hadn’t a care in the world. That careless bliss had come to an abrupt stop as I found the backside of a truck smashing into me, crushing me under its immense weight. I glimpsed down at my bike only to see its steely frame crumble like a Pepsi can before me. The truck slowly but surely rolled off me like an elephant lazily moving on. I thought the pain nearly over, but to my unexcited surprise it was coming back for round two slowly trudging forth. Yet again I feel as though the very life of my being was being squeezed out of me. I laid there under the towering truck trying to muster every last once of strength in me. I grasped the pavement trying to move my limp body with my meager arms, but being only about seven years of age didn’t quite supply me with the strength needed. Screams echoed from what I thought was me, but as my head rolled back in anguish I saw only my big sister in the distance staring back at me as if witnessing an execution. Moments later my mother came to my rescue, beating the truck like a mad man, and I had finally felt like I might make it out alive. There I lay as the pickup truck driver realized the error in his ways and quickly tried to come to my aid as well. I remember at that moment feeling so helpless and it was 3 weeks before I was again able to stand. After I was rushed to the hospital the doctor’s nick named me “the miracle child” because I hadn’t broken or fractured a single bone in my body. They say that as my bike was crushed it absorbed much of the pressure and likely saved me from being squeezed out like a tube of toothpaste. That day I learned that unexpected help can be the only thing that keeps breathing each day.