The other night I was driving through town. It was rainy and getting dark. I approached a hill and the wind picked up substantially. Seemingly from nowhere, the weather was bad.
My son was asleep in the passenger seat beside me. As we drove down the road, I saw a telephone pole on the right side that looked like it was being blown around by the wind. As if it wasn’t anchored to the ground at all.
Then the next telephone pole came toppling down right over my car, right over my son next to me.
I hit the gas pedal to speed beneath it before it fell on us and glanced in my rear-view mirror to check on the cars behind me. They had slammed on the brakes in time to avoid trouble. What I saw was the top half of a telephone pole dangling above the road. It was suspended by the power lines. The same lines which had prevented the pole from dropping out of the sky and onto my head.
It was a surreal experience. I didn’t even believe it was real. I had just seen a telephone pole dangling in front of my car and I was sure it was going to hit us, but it didn’t. I had to convince myself I wasn’t going crazy and dial the emergency services.
I was so unsure of what had happened that a few hours later I drove back over to where the spot was just to make sure I wasn’t going crazy. Sure enough, they had closed the road down and crews were clearing the mess. I wasn’t crazy after all.
It made me think that this whole life could be over in a moment and in that moment, I would have never even seen it coming. An 800lb wooden pole of death hurtling from the sky above me, a direct hit, and I’d have been a goner. Enjoy every sandwich and reflect on the things I take for granted. Be thankful. I sure am.