Three seconds...

Three seconds is all it takes for your life to change dramatically.  Three seconds can be the difference between life, death, and new life.  Well, before I go into my three seconds story, I guess I better tell you about my day. Let's just say I'm working through all the liquor I have in the house, which right now consists of two wine coolers and the butt end of a bottle of wine. 

I got to the clinic just after 9 AM and I received my first of the two in the Hep A series and a Tdap (I think they used to be called DPTs).  Evidently the Tdap is recommended, and free, if you are around infants.  I didn't feel like telling the woman that I am adopting, so I told her I care for the nursery babies at church.  Arms are a little tender, but not bad.

I picked up Michael and we headed to the state capital.  Unfortunately my GPS once again quacked out on me en route.  Michael was familiar with the area and we got there without too much difficulty.   We finally found the Secretary of State's office and unlike my previous experience with them, the lady in charge of authentications was really nice.  Within 20-30 minutes she had ALL my documents read.  And by all, I mean that I had 3 copies of every document because I am that obsessive about my paperwork.  And tomorrow, it is going back into the safe deposit box.  Yeah, I am that girl. 

We quickly moved on and found the Kinkos/Fed Ex.  I did the little happy dance at the copy machine as I finished the final rounds of dossier prep and with great excitement I turned my documents over to the incompetent looking employees behind the counter.  For whatever reason, the zip code for the town where my agency is located never shows up correctly in their system.  It doesn't matter what FedEx store you go into in the US--every one of them will tell you they can't ship to that address because it is incorrect.  We finally got through that little snafu (do you know the meaning of snafu?  Situation Normal All F***ed Up--that certainly has seemed appropriate for most of my paper chase) and I have this tremendous sense of relief as we walk out of that store.  Ahhh, I'm finally done.  Whatever happens from this point out is out of my hands. 

After getting some lunch we start walking around downtown just enjoying all the beautiful architecture in the city.  We visited the state capital building:

 

Beautiful, right?

We walked around the downtown mall, Monument Circle and the Canal.  It was after 5 PM and we decided we probably needed to head back.  Ok, this is where the three second story starts.  We are on the sidewalk waiting for our turn to cross the street.  The light finally changes, but the three old ladies from the Eastern Bloc just stood there.  I admit, I am inpatient and after waiting a second or two, I decided to cross around them on the right.  As I was halfway through the one way intersection I see a car speeding through the red light to the right of me at a very high rate of speed.  In that moment, I knew I was going to get hit and I would likely not live through it.  Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on where you are standing) a woman proceeded through the intersection since her light was green and this other car hit her with enough impact to spin her around several times and break the rear axle of the car.  From there, he continued to careen through the intersection without stopping.  There we were, me and the three old ladies to my left in the path of an out of control speeding car.  I was frozen.  I don't know how long it took for me to register that I needed to move, but when I finally did he came within 5 feet of me and actually ran through the area where I had been standing.  Once he finally regained sufficient control of his car, he sped out of there leaving all of us a bit dazed.  Where was Michael, you ask?  Hiding behind a big metal sign safely on the sidewalk. 

Fortunately the woman whose vehicle he hit was perfectly fine.  Not a scratch or bruise on her, but her car was not drivable. 

Once we were safely on the sidewalk and the a**hole driver was long gone I turned to Michael and said, "that would have really sucked if I had submitted my dossier and died the same day." Yeah, it was really that close.

I have had so many near misses in my life.  When my mother was pregnant with me, the car she was riding in was hit by a drunk driver.    There have been so many near misses--some like these, but also, medical emergencies.  I have come to look at them as not near misses, but God's grace in once again sparing me.  For years I wondered for what. 

When my mother was very young she became very ill and nearly died.  Her mother always told her that God was saving her for something special.  She expected something extraordinary to come of her life, but at this point in her life, she has decided that the extraordinary thing wouldn't be her life, but what she brought forward.  As an infant I was also terribly sick and I wasn't expected to live.  I thought my life was spared for something, but I wasn't quite sure what.  I have come to realize that God works quietly and in ways we don't see.  There have been so many three second moments in my life (yeah, I realize the wording doesn't quite make sense) that have quietly moved me towards this place in my life and many angels have intervened in ways I was probably unaware of.  Today, I was very much aware of it. 

When my mom called to inquire about the big day I shared my "three second" story with her.  She said, "No one had better try to destroy this bloodline!"  To know why she said that, you would have to know the extraordinary things the generations of May women in my family have overcome and the miracle of any of us being alive today. 

So, there is my three second story.  If you made it all the way through, I'm impressed.   Tonight, I am grateful to be alive, grateful for these moments when I realize how precious life truly is, and grateful to someday being a mother to Haven and my precious China girl. 

And in case you are worried about my alcohol consumption...this is nothing.  You should see the bottle of cough medicine I've been working on since last week--it's like 45 proof.  Gotta love Texan cough syrup!