Two Days

Right now I'm reading Charles Dickens "Great Expectations".  I've never read it before......well, not all of it.  If I recall correctly it was once an assignment in Sophomore English.  I didn't read very far into it then, but in reading it now I was able to recall a picture placed in my memory from a former reading of the grim Miss Havisham, so I know I got to page sixty two at least.

Fifteen pages later Pip observes something profound, something that got me thinking.  In the last paragraph on the last page of chapter nine Pip recalls his first meeting with Miss Havisham and says this:

"That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me.  But it is the same with any life.  Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been.  Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."

Oh Pip, what memorable days I would tell you of if I could.  Hundreds if not thousands.  Days that have shaped the person I am today, small snippets of a lifetime that even now warm my heart with their remembrance.  Of those many memories there are two that stand out, two days that  assuredly altered my life's course.

The first memorable day of which I write happened around the time I was four years old.  The day was warm, I don't know if it was spring or summer but I remember it was a nice day for a walk.  My dad for whatever reason, maybe I was annoying my mom, pestering my two year old sister, spitting milk out my nose, or belching my ABC's, decided to take advantage of the day and took me on a walk.  We walked hand in hand down our lane, followed the canal road and came to rest on the bridge that spanned our small canal, talking the whole way.  We talked and talked, about what I have no idea.  My feet dangled over the edge of the bridge.  Looking down the canal looked so deep.  I wanted to swim, but we weren't there for that.  We just talked for what felt like forever.  My four year old heart swelled with love for my dad, that he would take time for me.  I wasn't just one of the kids anymore.  I was me. An individual.  Someone worth taking time for.  Someone worth loving and being with.  I gained a great sense of self~worth that day.  I grew up knowing I was loved.   

And then there was the night that altered my life for all of eternity.  Fast forward twelve years.  Larry and I were on what we thought would be our last date.  We had broken up just a few minutes before, deciding that the differences we had just couldn't be worked through.  We agreed that we loved each other still but that differences in religion and upbringing would leave us forever star crossed and separate.  Driving home that cold December night, right around the corner, the Lord had something else in mind.  The deer was bigger than any I had ever seen.  Her eyes looked other-worldly as the headlights reflected off her face.  There was a thump on the back side of the car, spinning out of control, dirt flying through the broken windshield and the feeling of riding some kind of slow motion carnival ride. We rolled one and a half times.  Larry ended up with a purple and black bruise the size of a small book on his chest from the seat belt and I had the right side of my face bloodied from the flying glass.  The next day as we were comparing injuries I looked at him and knew I didn't want to be without him in my life.  The day that started out as the end, became our new beginning.  Tonight as I was looking at the scar that I still bear on the right side of my chin, I thought back to that night.  How Larry was such a gentleman, he gave me his coat because I had left mine at home.  How in that moment on a dark country road walking with his arm around me I knew I would love him forever.

Yes Pip, there are moments and days that make great changes in us. 

Without a doubt, those are mine.