Extraordinary moments in life

Minnesota_husker

Minnesota_husker

All-American
As I left the hospital today, i couldn't help but be truly amazed at how precious life is but also how extraordinary it is.

This isnt a story of loss, it isnt a story of gain... The two traditional things you accompany with leaving a hospital with a new appreciation for life.

One of my buddies was hit by a car 6 weeks ago. He had been drinking, and made a very stupid choice and was walking down the road. No one knows how he got there, but he was hit by a car going 70MPH. He flew over 100 feet.... and today, we ate chipotle together. We talked, we laughed... He told me he wanted to go back to work.

There is zero reason he should be here. He broke his pelvis.. broke a finger.. concussion.. doesnt remember the first two weeks and just started talking two weeks ago.... but fast forward 6 weeks, and outside of some slower speech and memory that fails him occasionally, he is the same old guy.

It got me thinking.. On days like today, where we felt loss and true sadness by the passing of Omaha Police Officer Karrie Orozco.. I saw a moment of a second chance.

Normally i dont share things lie this, but having lunch with this guy and knowing what he went through and how he is still here, is truly amazing. And thinking of the loss of a Police Officer who was trying to make this world a better place shows that life is also a breath from being taken away.

 
Wow! Thanks for sharing your story. I had a friend from HS who, while walking home, was killed by a drunk driver in a hit-and-run. I am really glad your friend is on the road to recovery. Having lunch with a friend is a simple pleasure in life, but after an experience like that, it means the world.

 
Thanks_Tom RR said:
Wow! Thanks for sharing your story. I had a friend from HS who, while walking home, was killed by a drunk driver in a hit-and-run. I am really glad your friend is on the road to recovery. Having lunch with a friend is a simple pleasure in life, but after an experience like that, it means the world.
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It was inspiring.

But i was also mourning the loss of Officer Orozco. My dad is a police Officer and my hear hurts so bad for her family and what they are going through.

 
Wow, 70 mph. How could your buddy survive? Let alone come through it with relatively minor injuries? The guy lives under a lucky star just to be alive.

 
When I was 19, me and a buddy started boozing around noon. Fast forward to midnight and I somehow ended up on a Raptor 4 wheeler speeding down a gravel road. I turned sharp and smashed my face into the handle bars and sent myself flying through a barb wire fence. Somehow I managed to crawl back through the fence. Broken jaw, lost some teeth as well as mangled a few others, several cuts and gashes, and split my lip into 4. No clue how it wasn't worse. Should have killed me or at least paralyzed me. Crazy how things like that happen and we walk away, yet other more innocent people pay a bigger price for things that weren't their fault.

 
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NUance said:
Wow, 70 mph. How could your buddy survive? Let alone come through it with relatively minor injuries? The guy lives under a lucky star just to be alive.
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No one, including him knows. The fact he was intoxicated probably helped.

I didnt see him when it first happened, but people who did said that they are shocked he is alive after seeing what he looked like.

 
A bit tangential here, but I will occasionally have moments in life that remind me how good I have things. A lot of times, it is easy for me to get down and not feel like things in my life are going exactly the way I want them to. Then, I will have the opportunity to meet individuals through work or otherwise who have really been dealt ten times a worse hand by life. They do not often complain or feel sorry for themselves. They just live their life, as best they can.

I always appreciate these moments. They offer up a heaping helping of perspective, generally right around the time I need a big dose. It's just a reminder that most of us generally have been very blessed in life, even if it is much easier to be cynical and negative and take our blessings, no matter how small or large, for granted.

As for cheating death, none of us have any idea when our ticket will be punched. It's stories like these that should remind us to cherish every moment. Do more living and less waiting to live.

 
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dudeguyy said:
A bit tangential here, but I will occasionally have moments in life that remind me how good I have things. A lot of times, it is easy for me to get down and not feel like things in my life are going exactly the way I want them to. Then, I will have the opportunity to meet individuals through work or otherwise who have really been dealt ten times a worse hand by life. They do not often complain or feel sorry for themselves. They just live their life, as best they can.

I always appreciate these moments. They offer up a heaping helping of perspective, generally right around the time I need a big dose. It's just a reminder that most of us generally have been very blessed in life, even if it is much easier to be cynical and negative and take our blessings, no matter how small or large, for granted.

As for cheating death, none of us have any idea when our ticket will be punched. It's stories like these that should cherish every moment. Do more living and less waiting to live.
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Outstanding point.

Life is magical.

 
I have a drunk and dumb cousin. He was snow mobiling - really fast - and hit a barbed wire fence with his throat. Got a nasty scar and voice got all raspy.

Same cousin later saw his friends in a lake with water up to their necks. Ran off the pier and dove head first into the water where his friends were sitting on the bottom of the lake. Got some fused vertibrae was all.

 
Last winter I had one of the most amazing 24 hours I can imagine.

A friend of mine had come down with a terminal illness. He knew he was going to die of this disease and he decided to have the absolute best life he could while it lasted. He felt that if he enjoyed life for the time he had left, then he beat the illness.

As time went, he became more and more debilitated. One of the first things that went was his ability to talk. He could do everything else. Just not talk. Then he got weaker and weaker but his mind was still completely normal and his personality was his old self.

Well, I had heard he was put in the hospital and so after a day or so I texted him to see if he could respond. He did. I was sitting at a HS basketball game when he told me his decision to have them pull the plug the following day. He was happy about it. He was perfectly fine with it and nobody tried talking him out of it. The next 24 hours, I had the most amazing conversation through text messages I can ever imagine I could have. On the way home from the basketball game, I was by myself and I decided I wanted to listen to some 80s rock. (we graduated in the 80s). The first song that came on was Bon Jovi "Blaze of Glory". I sat there in my truck absolutely balling because that song fit the situation so well. I texted him that and he loved it. He was going out in a blaze of glory.

I then spent the next 20 some hours conversing with him about old times...etc. He then signed off and was gone an hour later.

Damn....I got choked up again just writing that.

But, when you talk about "extraordinary moments in life" that came to mind.

 
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BigRedBuster said:
Last winter I had one of the most amazing 24 hours I can imagine.

A friend of mine had come down with a terminal illness. He knew he was going to die of this disease and he decided to have the absolute best life he could while it lasted. He felt that if he enjoyed life for the time he had left, then he beat the illness.

As time went, he became more and more debilitated. One of the first things that went was his ability to talk. He could do everything else. Just not talk. Then he got weaker and weaker but his mind was still completely normal and his personality was his old self.

Well, I had heard he was put in the hospital and so after a day or so I texted him to see if he could respond. He did. I was sitting at a HS basketball game when he told me his decision to have them pull the plug the following day. He was happy about it. He was perfectly fine with it and nobody tried talking him out of it. The next 24 hours, I had the most amazing conversation through text messages I can ever imagine I could have. On the way home from the basketball game, I was by myself and I decided I wanted to listen to some 80s rock. (we graduated in the 80s). The first song that came on was Bon Jovi "Blaze of Glory". I sat there in my truck absolutely balling because that song fit the situation so well. I texted him that and he loved it. He was going out in a blaze of glory.

I then spent the next 20 some hours conversing with him about old times...etc. He then signed off and was gone an hour later.

Damn....I got choked up again just writing that.

But, when you talk about "extraordinary moments in life" that came to mind.
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Thanks for sharing that, Buster. Definite +1 from this guy.

You're very blessed to have had someone close enough to you to spend their last 24 hours reminiscing with you. I'm sure that was a very surreal experience.

Great thread idea Minne!

 
^^^^

Wow...I choked up a bit reading that, obviously not knowing anything at all about the people involved.

That being said, while you're thinking about these things, think about how much time and opportunity is being wasted on nonsense. People who would kill to be out there, doing things, making things happen, but now don't have the ability to any more. People survive these things for a reason, a reason I think is to be inspirations to others.

Do something.

 
My extraordinary moments in life are watching my kids. I love watching them play sports, fish, being goofy and just simply enjoying life. I was changing the oil in my suburban the other day and my 17 month old crawled under the vehicle with me and just watched. He thought it was the greatest thing. Just babbled away and was truly happy. Moments like that are priceless and should be cherished more often.

 
Stumpy1 said:
My extraordinary moments in life are watching my kids. I love watching them play sports, fish, being goofy and just simply enjoying life. I was changing the oil in my suburban the other day and my 17 month old crawled under the vehicle with me and just watched. He thought it was the greatest thing. Just babbled away and was truly happy. Moments like that are priceless and should be cherished more often.
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Agree!

 
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