"We Are Not Infinite"

Today, as my brother is on his way back home from a short vacation, I am reminded by this storm my first accident that occurred while he was on vacation during a college spring break.  He was in sunny Florida, and I was out a car, was working the whole week and shoveling snow.  Here he is again, on vacation, missing all the action of a great storm.

I won't ever forget the spring break week of 2005.  I had a dream about my sister having a car accident before I woke up that morning.  She and I were going to look at apartments together, though she had still been asleep once I had called her later that morning.  But, before I called her, I took off to her place in the snowy weather.

I'm almost sure that "Gone" by Switchfoot had been playing when I got on the highway [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGNPS6-G3EY].  And, "gone" was the fate of the car I was driving, along with the cars of many others.  One man was killed who was from Minnesota, not even from Michigan.  Weather fronts had collided, snowy conditions left ZERO visibility, and black ice covered the highway.  Three separate spots of collisions, one southbound and two northbound were the result.  Nearly a hundred cars.  "Gone" may have been the fate of my car, but I didn't stop hearing for weeks how I must have had an angel on my side that day.

Website with the accident info: http://plainfieldfire.org/pictures/pileup/index.htm

Where was my car?

I got thrown into the center area between the two highway roads, southbound on the left side of the picture and northbound on the right.  My car was stopped by some small trees, a lucky thing when more action was going on in the northbound.  I know I was hit hard from the back, but there was really no way of seeing or stopping.  It was like being sucked into a thick white cloud.  And, off I went sailing into the trees.

I pray that everyone is safe in crazy weather like this.  And, I've learned to give more attention to my dreams, or nightmares if you prefer.  Life is precious, and we never know how long we have.  With this accident of years ago, It doesn't bother me to look at it.  It's actually a great reminder of struggle and overcoming great challenge.

Another challenge: getting back into better health and fitness.  I've updated the Bodyspace page today.  This morning I took quick measurements, so I'm not so sure on the accuracy.  But, I know it's fairly close to where I am starting today.  And, it is about what I expected.  Not so much has changed by weight, but the body fat has gone up.  The numbers reveal the sad truth of exchange of muscle for fat over the long hard months.  It's time to exchange that back!

For some pictures of the weather that hit the nation hard this week:  CLICK HERE!

A comic for the day: