You can't seem to catch a break?

Today at two different times from two different people from across the country I heard the same statement; you can't seem to catch a break. That has stuck with me all day and made me start thinking about all of the breaks I have had and just how many breaks do you get in a lifetime anyway? My brother-in-law had recently told me about some breaks he had in his life. The breaks I am talking about are the ones that are life changers, or possible enders. There are the good breaks like getting married to Bev, the birth of my children, etc. But the breaks I am talking about are those that awaken you to reality, like:

I was 4 or 5 years old. My mom had taken us out to the Pancake House, one of our favorite little places to eat. We were there for dinner. We finished and as we walked into the parking lot, at night, I decided to make a run for the car. Across the lot. A car was traveling through the lot, blew the horn, skidded the tires. I can still see those headlights close to me, hear the horn and then the screams. That was 49 years ago. I caught a break.

I was almost 6 years old and swimming with a friend at his parents club pool. The lifeguard was hosing down one area that we were going through. Being little, and the lifeguard not acting properly, he sprayed our legs with the hose, I started running, slipped and fell, busted my head open, and lost consciousness. I still remember that and have the scar where no hair has ever grown. I caught a break.

I was 15 and living on my own with a federal narcotics officer and his family. My family had retired and moved to Colorado. I was still enrolled in St. Mark's, a private boys school so I lived in the narcs garage apartment. In Texas you could own and drive a motorcycle at 15, so that was my transportation. Two weeks after I got the bike, I was driving to school. A bright fall morning, the sun in the sky behind me, wearing a off white coat on a gold bike. Luckily with a helmet on. I can still see the car turn left across my path. I honked my horn, hit my head with the helmet on, then hit my head again but this time no helmet was there. When I woke up, it was like everything was perfectly still. I stood up, realized I had flown over the car, and was laying in the middle of Hillcrest Ave., a busy thoroughfare in North Dallas. Then I saw the traffic light change two blocks away and three lanes full of cars were traveling toward me. I walked over to the curb and sat down. All very surreal. I wound up with a broken arm, water on the knee, and a helmet that had a hole in it where you could push your hand through. I caught a break.

I was dating Bev but living in Salt Lake City. It was Thanksgiving eve. I drove all night to be in Denver for Thanksgiving. I had heard it was supposed to snow, so I had even purchased chains. Sure enough, as I got closer to Denver, the snow got heavier and the roads were slick with black ice. I was almost home, at Floyd Hill on I-70. I hadn't stopped to put the chains on. It was 4:30 in the morning. I remember seeing the trailer of the 18 wheeler getting closer. I pumped the brakes, turned the wheel left then right to try to ditch the car. As the bumper of the trailer came across the hood of my car, I stiffened my arms for impact. There were no airbags 25 years ago. I remember waking up, hearing someone saying something to me, seeing my own blood and passing out again. I remember waking up again when a car hit the back of my car. The last thing I remember is watching the fireman slipping and falling all around me. The next thing I remember was in the hospital. It took two tow trucks to remove my car, one to lift the trailer up and one to yank my car out from under it. The bumper had gone through the windshield and stopped half way across where I had been sitting. Any farther and the cop said I could have been decapitated. The car that slid into me? The cops car. No ticket, too icy. My crooked nose, even after surgery, is a reminder of the break I caught that day.

I have non-Hodgkin's enlarged B Cell lymphoma cancer. I have had a thoracic duct ligation. I could barely speak. I contracted the H1N1 flu. Now I have pneumonia and two floating blood clots in my lungs. I have caught a break. I am still alive! I have not fallen out of my bed as another guy did in a room across the floor. I have not had to go to the ICU like the guy in the next room last night with his wife screaming and crying in the hall for help. I have wonderful caring family and friends who have given me amazing support. Now I am told more likely than not that I will have to undergo a bone marrow transplant. The good thing is that they can use my own stem cells which will cut down on donor problems. It could take up to three weeks in the hospital. With no immune system, in a special hospital area designed just for this. The chemo will be 10 times harder than anything I have had, and so will the side effects. Three weeks, out of a lifetime. I have caught a break. I am alive!

How about you? How many breaks have you had to celebrate? God bless each and every one of you, and thank you for your support!