Precious and Fragile

Trevor called me at work.  Luckily for me the bathroom was across the hall.  I threw up.

Cara’s Mercedes had crossed the center line and hit the little Kia head on.  The mom had unbuckled her seat belt to pick up a toy the toddler had dropped. 

The dad had suffered a concussion, several broken ribs, and a broken jaw.  He’d ruptured his spleen, punctured a lung, and would likely lose part of his liver.

The little girl’s collarbone, leg, and kneecap were broken.  She would limp through life without her mother.

I wondered what they had been doing just before impact.  Listening to a version of “Baby Shark”?  Singing along? Laughing? Had the little girl been crying, and had her mother had tried to soothe her with the toy?

As the holidays approached, there’d be more drunk drivers, more distracted drivers, more impaired drivers on the road.  From experience, I knew a few drinks made it easy to forget how precious and fragile life is. I’d never felt more grateful for being sober.  

Today I’ll remember life is precious and fragile.

Dogged Determination ©2018 & 2019 by Ken Montrose

Dogged Determination is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/