October 12, 1995 was a sunny fall morning.  It started as any other morning.  The children headed off to school on the bus and Paul and I hopped in the car for school; “Seatbelts, Norman, seatbelts.” Who could imagine that a mile and a half down the road there would be a chance meeting between three people?  How would I know that in just a few minutes life as I know it would change in a chance meeting of a Honda Accord and a farm truck?  A chance meeting that would bring me to so many different realms within myself and beyond in my life.

How many times in life have we each forgotten something and had to run back into the house or took a wrong turn?  It could simply be that life is just so busy that we cannot get it together or maybe just maybe, if we are one to believe in it, it could be “divine intervention.” When that meeting of those two vehicles occurred, those three people met, what happened that morning bringing them to meet at that exact moment.  As the driver went around the truck and checked it out, if he would have went around one more time our car would have been through the intersection and would have moved through the day as any other day.  The truck driver would have continued on with his day and would not have had to live with memories of the accident from that day forward.  What are the chances that we were to meet that day?  Did God lay it out specifically the way it happened so I could have a chance to see what lies ahead?

I was blessed to not remember the accident.  What I do remember is driving down the road with my son and talking and singing with him and then waking up laying up across the seats of the car with him patting me on the head saying, “Mommy, Mommy.” Between that time I experienced another realm of life.  I was given an opportunity to know what’s beyond the stars; what is beyond the end of our lives.  I was not given the 90 minutes in heaven or given a chance to have all the unknowns answered.  As I now sit next to my fireplace and feel the warmth from it, it cannot even begin to warm me as much as that moment did.  The warmth I felt can only be described as being hugged from the inside out.  I did not see a light at the end of a tunnel.  I did observe a color though; a magnificent yellow.  There is only one word for it…indescribable. I have spent 21 years searching for that color in paint palettes, magazines, pictures, and in the sky.  I have simply come to the conclusion that it will not be found until I reach heaven.  I did not speak or see anyone but felt the presence of another; a loved one.  I felt them touching my shoulder in such a the manner to lead me back to my life.  What I felt though was a feeling of no regret.  I had no desire to return to my life on earth; that that present was where I wanted to stay.  The overwhelming sense of calm and peace is continually sought still today and so anticipated.

Our chance meeting was not by chance.  Even though the accident brought significant amounts of pain, many surgeries, a scarred body and having to give up a job I loved it enabled to enter a branch in my career path that still allows me to aid others just not in the way I was doing it.  I lost my independence for a period of time but in a roundabout way I gained strength and self-worth.  Most importantly the question of “is there life after death?” was answered that strengthened my faith more intensely that allows me to reach for it when it feigns at low points in my life.

A chance meeting?  I think not but more of a gift; a gift from above.