Reminders

I'm drinking coffee blended with a little honey and coconut oil, and I made us a smoothie and somecinnamon raisin ezekiel bread. It's a good Friday morning.

Tyler was in a car accident last night. He's fine, a little stiff this morning. He was driving home from work on the highway and he noticed a car darting through traffic. He thinks she overcorrected, hit the guardrail, and flipped. He said "I responded so calmly. It didn't make any sense... I hit my breaks, but not so hard that I'd get hit from behind. The airbags didn't deploy." And I was thinking, so.. you're a superhero. But really. Isn't it just like Tyler to be calm. Thankfully, lots of people were there to help the girl get out of her flipped car. She crawled out of the window screaming, and he saw blood. He said he couldn't have handled it, so he was thankful other people were there.

I had just been thinking, "Hm, Tyler is 6 minutes late. I wonder what he did differently today than he does every other day." I pictured him chatting it up like a 9 year old boy with one of his work friends. And then my mind went to chain reactions, and traffic. Traffic baffles me. And then my phone rang. I heard loud highway and my first thought was, "roll your damn windows up. rude," when Tyler said in a shaky, loud voice that he'd been in an accident and he was ok. He got emotional a couple of times. Woooo, I've been there. Adrenaline.

He got home later and was standing at the sink. I'm rude and I process things strangely. I had already texted him before he got home and told him I felt like we should go to dinner. I offered him a beer, but I forget when traumatic things happen they can be quite sobering already. He drank water. His voice had been calm the whole time, but then he said the paramedic told him if he hadn't been there to call so quickly, the girl probably would have died. At that moment he broke. I love my tender husband. God knew I needed someone with just the right amount of tenderness. Ah.

They were heading to the tow yard and the police stopped them to search her car. All they told him was that they had reason to search it.

I told Tyler this morning that when things like this happen but no one I know gets hurt, I'm like (very matter of fact) "OK. It happened. No one got hurt. It couldn't have happened any other way. No reason to get upset about it." But had he broken a bone or got a concussion, that would be a little different. Sometimes I glaze over situations and don't take a minute to say thanks to Jesus for sparing my husband, my baby's daddy. Thanks for making our life good. Thanks for making it fairly easy. We have good things, we don't sweat too much or get too cold, our bellies stay full, we have joy. And I know God would still be good if we did get hungry or chilly. I am spoiled, and I always have been. But I try to remember why things are so good. Not because I worked hard through college (I didn't, really), not because I married a perfect man (I didn't), or read all the self help books (I do), but because God is so good. And even the bad things, the broken marriages, hurricanes, death, loneliness... all of those things point to the fact that God is making all things new, and that we need him to. And all the good things, the mornings in July that feel like Autumn, a great cup of coffee, a chubby baby right after they wake up, peace that passes all understanding, these things are God's way of showing himself. And I don't say it out loud enough. I think it. I think, "thanks, God." But mostly I keep it inside my weird head. But those little bits of peace that shine through the shit... He is showing himself, because he is so Good. Thank you, Jesus, for showing yourself by letting my man walk away with not even a scratch.

Ah. Anyway. I have some reading to do. Currently, finishing Notes from a Blue Bike, just started A Practical Guide to Children's Health, and I'm reading Jesus Feminist (which is really good).

So, if you've forgotten... find a way to remind yourself that life is sweet. And if you believe in God, remind yourself that he is good.