Hi there Friends and Family,
I'm sharing this post again because I am feeling grateful for miracles big and small. A fraction of a centimeter higher - had the miracle not happened that day, I probably wouldn't be here on Earth and writing this to you. I hope you take time to pause and remember the
goodness, the beauty, and the miracles in your life - Charlene
------------------------------
Dear Friends,
I don't know why, but I'm feeling a strong inner nudge to share a memory of a miraculous incident with you. Perhaps it's meant to be a reminder for us all to appreciate the significant "coincidences" in our lives as well as the times and ways we've been saved from harm. Or
perhaps it offers a caution that will protect someone reading this - or someone you love - from an accident that could be serious, even fatal. The photo shows how close I came to such a fate.
This happened four years and four days ago...
My husband and I were facing the wind as we walked along the
beach on Sanibel Island, Florida that morning. It was so windy that I commented to Frank that a rogue umbrella tumbling across the beach could impale a person.
Later that day, it happened! And the person in the path of a rogue umbrella was me!
Somehow, miraculously, the sharp wooden point struck
precisely under the strap of my swimsuit, slid across the top of my shoulder, and stopped before piercing my neck.
It was such a sudden shock and hurt so much I thought the pole had entered my shoulder. I felt incredibly fortunate then and remain grateful and awed now at how my swimsuit shoulder strap slowed the speed of that large pointed wooden pole.
Hmm. I'm now wondering if some additional help was involved. I do believe that, at times, we are all visited and assisted by angels. What do you think?
I want to add that it was a windy day all along the east coast. The next day I read about two women who had been impaled. One beneath her collarbone, on a beach in Maryland.
The other in New Jersey, with the pole entering her leg.
From research I gathered this:
"Even in calm weather, when you least expect it, an unsecured beach umbrella can fly away and severely injure someone. Most parasols have pointed ends, so a simple gust of wind can turn them into dangerous
flying spears. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), an estimated of 2,800 umbrella-related injuries were treated in emergency departments nationwide between 2010 and 2018. That’s 350 accidents per year in the U.S. alone, only counting the ones who ended up at the hospital! There are way too many casualties caused by flying beach umbrellas for the problem to be ignored."
In closing, first, let's be thankful for all the ways we are guided and protected.
Second, let's do all we can to keep ourselves and others safe, healthy, happy, and hopeful. Be careful on beaches on windy days.
Third...I wish you a joyful day, week, month, year,
life!
With love,
Charlene
PS - "There are two ways to live: you can live as if
nothing is a miracle; you
can live as if everything is a miracle." - Albert Einstein
