We take LIFE for granted

Last night at work, Maureen, a co-worker of mine over at The Home Depot apologized for bailing on me with the limo for Kylene's b-day. I told her that it was no problem at all and I was wondering where she was for the past week or so. Then she told me this story that just melted my heart away. It was terrible. Here's how it goes:

She was at work on a Friday night, but misses a phone call. She checks her voicemail and hears that her girlfriend needs help. So she gets up and tells the closing manager that she needs to leave right away.

So here's what happened to Maureen's girlfriend Juanita. I believe Juanita was driving home from a day of work, stopping at red lights and being very cautious. She was by the 52 freeway and she caught a green light. So she went, then out of nowhere, this black Mazda Miata comes speeding out of the dark and t-bones her 2000 Toyota Tacoma causing her to spin out, hit the railing of the freeway exit, which caused her truck to roll, and then hit a freeway sign that caused her to stop.

The person driving the Mazda Miata also had a passenger with him. And guess what this jackass did? After he had hit her, he was thinking about hitting and running, but his car wouldn't allow him to. He stopped about a mile away and called a 'tow truck'. He didn't even to think to call 911. And the tow truck arrived before the police came.

Back to Juanita, she described the hit as a monster hitting her. Luckily, a homeless man heard it and also had his campsite near by. He came out to see what had happened and immediately did what he could. He pulled back the door of the driver's side and pulled her out. To my surprise, he also had a cell phone and had called 911.

After seeing the aftermath of the damage that had been done, her what was brand new 2000 red Tacoma Truck has major damage to the front end, etc, etc.

Maureen was telling me that when Juanita was at the hospital, they had to operate on her immediately because she had internal bleeding. So they cut her open from the chest down to her belly button and found that blood from her spleen was gushing out. So they had to remove her spleen. Her left arm also was badly damaged. Her skin was flapping around and you can see her bare flesh.

And yesterday, was Juanita's b-day so Maureen did the nicest things for her. She couldn't function normally because she was in so much pain, so Maureen gave her a bath, cleaned her sheets, painted her nails, and had a nice roast beef dinner. Maureen described the day as celebrating LIFE.

After what had happened, Maureen quit drinking and all the bad habits she was accustomed to. She also told me that her relationship with her had gotten stronger. And she's so appreciative of LIFE. It was an emotional story which caused her to cry, which almost made me tear up.

It's stories like these that make me appreciate LIFE more. I hope the person that hit Juanita get what he deserves because another few minutes at the crash scene, she could have passed away.

These types of stories are so influential, that it's things like these that change the aspect of the things I do in life. I appreciate life more and more, and families aren't just blood, but friends. I appreciate having my girlfriend, my family, my friends, my personal belongings, etc. There's things that I regret doing in life, and things I cherish. I would love to change my bad habits also, and I'm definitely working on it.

Thank God everything is ok.

Live life as if it were your last.