Taking Steps: Day 22 – What Is Important?

This evening I was visited by a friend of mine who recently survived a serious car accident.  Only eight years before, a friend of his was in a similar accident, but died.  Because of this accident, my friend felt his life was jostled.  Being able to not only survive, but walk away from the wreckage, relatively unscathed, was a wake-up call.  It prompted him to not leave words unsaid between his friends and loved ones.

Talking to him, I realized there was a notable difference in him.  He was admitting to his faults, taking things slow, and being more thoughtful; characteristics that was always in him, but ones he never paid attention to.  He was willing to listen rather than judge and admitted that, since the accident, his thinking has changed.  When he stepped out of a wrecked jeep, after flipping over down a hill several times, with only bumps and bruises, he knew that accident might have cost him his life.

My friend is only 39, in the process of a divorce, trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life.  He was always stubborn, impetuous, and a bit self destructive.  With this, he’s starting to realize what’s important.  He’s seeing his relationships as the treasures as they are, and letting the other side know his feelings.  Nothing will ever be left unsaid with him.  No “thank you” forgotten, no “I love you” unsaid, because he knows that one day, he may not be able to say it at all.