Saved by a mystery man

IN the blink of an eye I learned how quickly things can go wrong this week and my son and I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to a complete stranger.

Driving from school to the supermarket, I turned to look at my son when I heard a loud incessant beep from a car behind.

I looked in my rear-view mirror to check I hadn't accidentally cut someone up or drifted into the wrong lane and noticed nothing out of the ordinary until I looked back at the road ahead and realised there was a car broken down in the lane ahead of me and, at the speed we were going, it was going to be a very ugly head-on collision with little chance of survivors.

It wasn't because I was driving too fast but because a two second loss of concentration meant I hadn't realised the car ahead was stationary until we were practically on top of it.

A man in a jeep behind us took in the entire situation before there was time to even breathe and lent on his horn until I looked up and got out of the way - something that in most cases would have happened too fast to even register, let alone give out a warning for.

He could have been lost in his own thoughts and never have known anything until he heard and saw the collision in his own rear-view mirror.

I wasn't in his lane and he had no reason to be paying close attention to the road ahead of me but he did and as a result my son, the driver of the broken-down car and myself all lived to tell the tale.

It seems like such a non-event really now as it was just another three or four seconds out of another day.

No-one was hurt and the whole event was over in no time at all before our daily lives went on as normal but thinking about it makes me shiver to think that a split second difference could have resulted in a very different outcome.

It's amazing how much we wish our lives away and rush through things to get to the next place or thing we need to reach, so that we don't take into consideration our next moment could be our last.

In truth I should know better after nearly losing my best friend a few months ago in a hit-and-run, but life goes on and before you know it you're back to living your day from moment to moment without much regard for the what ifs that would slow us down.

And really that's the way it should be. If we spent our lives living every second in full awareness of what could happen at any given moment we would never leave the comfort and protection of our homes. We'd be so afraid of every aspect of living that we wouldn't live at all.

At the end of the day, it was no big deal. Nothing happened, I didn't crash and I was over the shock in no time at all but the thought of what could have been still gives me a chill every time it crosses my mind.

It's not enough to make me worry every time I get in the car but somewhere in the back of my mind it makes me realise that I need to take the time that passes less for granted and start getting on with the plans I have for life rather than assuming I can get to it next week/month/year.

Carpe Diem dude!