Born on A Bayou!

In about 2 hours from when I post this blog it will be exactly one year from when I went spinning down I-20 and became a bloody pulp of broken bones as I hit a bridge head on in a Louisiana bayou. That was just the start of an exceedingly scary and thrilling ride, which continues today. As I look out my window writing this the storm clouds are billowing, thunder clapping and rain is falling, just like that morning in Northwest Louisiana. But like Creedence Clearwater sings, "I was born on the bayou!"

That day is when I faced my mortality for the second time in a five year span. That day is when I was, to put it in neocon terms, "born again". As I lay in my broken state, in my broken car, I had two choices, the same two choices that we all face everyday when we become conscious, to live or to die. I discovered in a state of clarity that only a situation like this can reveal, that both choices are very easy to make. I chose life and was literally born again in a Louisiana bayou, as my old life was washed away by the pouring rain coming through my broken windshield.

Oh, I lived before, but somehow I had strayed from what truly motivated me. My open heart surgery was just a warm-up for that day in Louisiana. All my baggage of my previous life was literally thrown out the window. I realized through my pain that I was given a great blessing, to start anew. I was thankful, as I still am today.

Today's reading, appropriately enough, from God Calling by A.J. Russell was about Gratitude. "Give my the gift of a brave and thankful heart. Man proves his power to see causes for thankfulness in life. When life seems hard, and troubles crowd, then very definitely look for causes to be thankful. Seek diligently for something to be glad and thankful about in every happening, and soon no search is required. The causes for Joy and Gratitude will spring to greet your loving hearts."

Sir Dayvd has turned me on to an English motivational speaker, Jo Cameron. www.urhired.co.uk In her recent newsletter she states, "Challenge is a sign of living and without it we wither. Barriers are a test of our resolve. Hurdles are a sign that we aspire. Setbacks are the bumps in the road that we need to ride if we want to get somewhere higher. Rejection means we want a better life but we just haven't worked out how yet. When we get to where we want to be it's sunny and bright, it's peaceful and calm and worth all the pain getting there. It's worth fighting for because it was our idea, so keep going today when you feel like giving up. As John Ruskin said: 'The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it."

I rode my bump in the road on this day last year and I am thankful for what I have become because of it!

Sir Hook "Born on a Bumpy Road in the Bayou" of Warrick