The machine had a malfunction and I was asked to wait while the technician fixed it. No problem. Until I was strapped into the machine and I heard the technician tell the doctor the fateful words, “… the motherboard fried.” So the extra waiting around, only to get unstrapped and sent on for the day with a reschedule for the following Monday, seemed pointless. But I am a huge believer in things happening for a reason and this was no exception.

As I traveled down the freeway to the office, my interchange was coming up, so I had moved to the right. I entered the second lane from the outside and noticed a silver car pulled over to the side ahead and a woman in her early twenties standing in front of the car. As I passed by, she took a racing stance and checked traffic. A minivan was coming, but was a little ways back. The girl waited … until the minivan got closer and then ran in front of it. The van hit her and she flipped upside down and plummeted toward the tarmac.

I pulled over as quickly as I could and reversed down the shoulder. I left some space for the emergency vehicles I knew would be coming and walked back to the scene, certain I would be walking back toward a dead body. However, when I arrived at the scene, a man knelt in front of the girl and was talking to her, telling her to stay still and asking her questions. And she was answering. Amazed doesn’t begin to describe my feelings at that moment. I felt as if God had spoken and said it wasn’t this girl’s time yet.

While the lady who hit her was shaken, as anyone would be, I was so impressed by her faith and her selflessness. Every time she spoke, her first words were a prayer for the girl, concern that she would live. She had no opportunity to miss hitting the girl, and I cannot even imagine the nightmares she must be having from having done so. My heart went out to both the girl lying on the ground and the lady who hit her, knowing how easily it could have been any of the eyewitnesses who came back to wait for the authorities. Including me.

The girl was taken to the hospital with an assessment of a broken leg, some cracked ribs, and a cracked head but was expected to live. I was relieved for both the driver and her. Some have said the word “selfish” about the girl … in a way they are right, but I disagree with the sentiment. The urge to take your own life comes from a very dark place, where there doesn’t seem to be any other answer. True, the girl wasn’t thinking about the driver of the car, and the trauma she will now carry with her for the rest of her life. She wasn’t thinking about those who saw her rash act and would live with the memory of it. She couldn’t. The only thing she knew at that moment was the overwhelming depths of despair.

When the CHP, Police, ambulance, Paramedics, and fire engine arrived, I was asked to follow one of the officers past the minivan to make a written statement of what I saw. There, behind the van, were the girls moccasins in the road, side by side, both upright, yet facing opposite directions. Those moccasins, more than anything else at the scene, made an impact on me. The girl was lifted straight out of them, the car passed over them without disturbing them, no marks from the road on their surface. My husband’s grandmother believed that placing your shoes pointing opposite directions helps to ward off evil spirits. I saw them as a sign of God’s hand — no matter the darkness surrounding this girl, she had been saved for a purpose.

Those shoes caused me to take a moment to reflect on my own life and how fortunate I have been to continue living, despite a host of health issues. In fact, I had a down moment this week due to the MRI results which showed a cyst of some sort in the left knee. We now have to jump through a few more hoops in order to determine whether surgery is necessary. And I get rather tired of jumping through the hoops. But I will keep jumping through them because I know there is a purpose for my life and I want to fulfill it. Life becomes so very precious to those who have faced losing it. My hope and prayer is that the girl comes to that understanding because her problems have multiplied from what they were.

I understand where the girl was because I have had my own struggles with darkness and despair, but my innate curiosity saved me from making any sort of attempt to end my life. Because I could always decide to do that tomorrow or the day after that, but if I killed myself today, I wouldn’t be around to see whether tomorrow was a better day and I wanted to know what would happen tomorrow. I still do. Though it may sound trite, I wish every person struggling with despair could know deep inside it is temporary and things will ultimately get better — we just have to keep fighting and doing the best we can. Life is precious, don’t ever give up on it.

The post This Precious Life appeared first on Be the Cat.

A week ago I was goofing off on Twitter … I mean taking a brief, but necessary writing break … when I saw a graphic floating by that said, “A year ago, I would’ve never pictured my life the way it is now.” In that moment I realized how profoundly true those words were about my life and this past year. I posted the words and how they impacted me on Facebook (the Facebook post is at the bottom of this post.) And those words got me thinking … first in a retrospective manner about the past, but then looking forward at the year to come. Where will I be a year from now?

The one sure-fire certainty I have is that I will not be in the same place I am today. And today isn’t a bad place. In fact, based on where I was a year ago, today is a pretty comfy and nice place to be. I just can’t stay here. Why? Because my base nature wants things to be changing all the time. If I didn’t keep moving forward, or at least trying, I’d go crazy … okay, crazier. I have goals I haven’t reached yet and the thought of NOT striving toward them gives me the willies. My mind rebels and threatens to explode and my spirits plummet. So what happens when I achieve my goals? I set new ones, of course.

For the past year, I have been working hard on my writing career, and things are falling into place to rocket to the next level next year. I’m super excited because next year will see the launch of the chapter book series, Timmy and the Golden Lion Tamarin, I coauthored with Luke Matthews. We are blessed to have the extreme artistic talent of Marie Beschorner on the team — her illustrations will knock your socks off. And my agent, Italia Gandolfo, kindly allowed me to post the below exciting news this past week.

And Timmy isn’t the only thing in the hopper for next year. We have so many things already planned for next year, Italia has asked me not to plan on additional writing projects. I’m still trying to bring my hyperventilation under control at the thought of not having a book to write planned. At the moment, I am focusing on getting a dark upper Young Adult novel finished. (I can’t wait until I can start talking about this one. It is absolutely awesome.) And I will definitely be working on the 3rd book in the Timmy and the Golden Lion Tamarin series after the dark upper YA. But after the chapter book … I don’t know (other than edits on the 2nd and 3rd Timmy books as well as the dark YA.) And nothing has the power to scare me more than the unknown.

The one thing I DO know is that I will be busy. We anticipate multiple titles out next year, so that alone should keep me hopping. (Italia has a fond dream of keeping me busy enough to not have time to play with Photoshop. Not happening. I play with Photoshop to help get my creative juices flowing.) And I’m sure the unexpected will crop up because no matter how well you plan things in life, the Universe likes throwing curve balls. If I’ve practiced enough, I should be able to knock those curve balls out of the park.

The best thing I can do is to keep my head down, keep working, follow our plan, and I’m hoping this time next year, when I pop my head up, turn around and look back, that I won’t even be able to see today because I will have come so far.

The post The Year Ahead appeared first on Be the Cat.