Thankful for Small Things

It is said that you should always remember to be thankful for the small things in life, and that you shouldn't take things for granted. I got a reminder of that yesterday in a strange way.

By lunchtime yesterday it was a beautiful cool fall day. Two days of heavy rains had finally let up in the morning, the skies were blue, and all that was left of the storm was a persistent strong wind. I had a few errands to run at lunch, and these errands happened to put me on Route 100 along the west bank of the Brandywine, heading north. Getting to Smithbridge Rd, my way home was blocked by a road closure due to flooding. I continued up route 100 through the woods, until I got to a spot where the road dipped down into a low spot that was completely flooded out, complete with stranded car in about 2 feet of water. I turned around and went back south on 100, knowing I could cross down by Brandywine Creek State Park, which was where I had gotten over to this side in the first place. Detours and traffic problems had now turned a quick couple of errands into a rush to get back to my office in time for my next conference call.

So a very specific set of circumstances conspired to put me at a particular spot on route 100 southbound, hurrying to get home (probably faster than I should have been going), at a very specific point in time. At precisely that moment, travelling about 35mph around a curve, something was blown out of an overhead tree and with a sound like a gunshot, exploded my windshield on the passenger side. Badly startled, the car swerved a little to the right, and I could feel the tires on the right side going onto the shoulder and starting to slide. I was able to get the car back under control, and could see well enough out the driver's side to find a place to pull over and calm down.

I guess it wasn't exactly like the cartoons where you are walking along the sidewalk and a piano falls on your head, but it was close. If Smithbridge Road weren't detoured, I wouldn't have been there. If route 100 weren't underwater, I wouldn't have been there. Even if I weren't then in a bigger hurry, I wouldn't have been there. But I was.

So life is weird, coincidences are real, and I have a few small things to be thankful for. I am thankful for the small 2 or 3 feet that remained between my car and the guardrail before I was able to get the car back under control. I am thankful that my small 10 or 12 foot swerve went to the right onto the shoulder and not to the left into oncoming traffic. And at the risk of sounding melodramatic, I am grateful that I am here in one piece to write about it.