- One night, there was an orange glow in my bedroom, then I looked out to see flames from the old hay shed. It needed to come down anyway, but still!
- On a cross-country solo flight, I had a pretty rough landing. It was fine, I was fine. I probably just remember it because the whole solo flight was a big deal, and I didn't want to mess up. For more reasons than one.
- I put my arm into my coat sleeve & a mouse jumped out the other end.
- While swimming in the ocean in NYC, I was rescued by a lifeguard. He was at my side about the time I realized I was in the current and might be in trouble.
- When I was little, I dreamed soldiers surrounded our house. One of them bopped me on the head with his sword. I woke up. I had bopped my own head on the headboard. It scared me enough that I remember.
- One day, I was alone hunting, and saw what I'm still sure was a cougar. I mean, I had a gun, but I still felt there wasn't room out there for the both of us. So I walked out. Alive.
- I was burning dead grass down by the old cabin & almost started the whole timber aflame.
- Our house was broken into & cash stolen by someone we had tried to help. Watching the cops go through our house spotlighting all our closets left its mark on my impressionable mind.
- Sitting in a deer stand on opening morning, hearing sirens on the highway 5 miles north is foreboding. Later, I learned one of my classmates had been shot in a hunting accident. He lived.
- A couple summers ago, the roll bar on the mower caught the swingset & pulled the swingset over, on top of me. I got a bruise on my arm.
- My horse was an American Saddlebred. She had an amazing gait, but if she was startled, she startled dramatically. This was especially frightening when we were riding between a cornfield & the woods & met someone walking around the corner.
- I got (or felt?) lost on the field path between my uncle's & my Grandparents. I was pretty little, and it might be the first time I remember feeling terrified & alone.
- We made a mismove one day while working cattle, and a half-grown steer kicked me in the face.
- Dad was driving the big van home from a bake sale in Des Moines. The roads were slick, and we couldn't make it up "the big hill". Since there was a ravine on the other side of the road, he hooked 2 wheels off the edge of the road on our side & backed down the hill. We took a different way home & got stuck. Someone pulled us out with the tractor. We eventually made it home.
- Flying (as a passenger in a Christian Eagle) inverted across my parents' farm was a little tough on my stomach.
- My patients have periodically made me nervous. One example is walking in & finding my patient in hypoglycemic shock. Watching her wake up while I administered dextrose sticks in my mind as one of the most satisfying "instant gratification" moments of my career.
Since I got married, my opportunities for concern have quintrupled.
- The boys, probably about ages 3 & 5, disappeared over the hill, chasing birds. I thought I knew where they were. When we called them for lunch, there was no response. Craig drove one way around the farm, I drove the other, but we met without the boys. We found them where they had been out of the line of our sight, playing in and around the big culvert that runs under the road.
- My husband prefers to video nearby tornadoes, to hanging out with the kids & me in the basement. Of course, were it not for those kids, I probably would have been watching too.
- One of the boys got bit by a dog, at least 3 different places on his scalp. It was bloody but superficial.
- Craig nearly amputated the end of his thumb. Being pregnant, I was also afraid I would pass out while watching him be treated in the ER.
Those are *some* of the ones I remember. I often wonder how many more times there are than I even know, when I (and those I love) have been protected.
Writing all these things reminds me that I am here by the grace & mercy of God. There is a reason I use joytobealive as my blog name & email. Every day is a gift. I want to treasure each day I have with those I love.
