Did you kiss your husband before he left for work today?

If you didn’t, call him and tell him you love him because you never know what the day will bring. Get a load of this:

What a wild weekend! The 4th started out with a bang….no pun intended.

Friday I was on my way home from shopping in the city, and I got a phone call from my good friend (the anesthesiologist);

Me: Hello?

D: Have you seen your house?

Me: “No, I am on my way home from a day of shopping.”

D: “Well, a car went tearing through your front lawn out of control and slammed in to the house next door.”

Me: “What!! Is Bill okay?”

D: “I don’t know? Why would he not be okay?”

Me: “He told me he was planning to mow the front yard when he got home from work.”

D: “Shit!! There were police and an ambulance there. No one mentioned a lawn mower or Bill laying out in the yard.”

Me: “Let me get off the phone and try to get hold of Bill.”

Frantically dialing home to check on Bill……………..no answer. Good God, please not this kind of freak accident…………

More frantic dialing to Dr. B, our neighbor that Bill works with.

Dr. B: “Hello?”

Me: “Hey M, this is J, did you drive by our house on your way home from work?”

Dr. B: “No. I went the back way. Why?”

Me: “Well, apparently a car ripped through our front yard and smashed into the house next door……Bill was supposed to be mowing the front yard, and I can’t get hold of him”.

Dr B. “Give me your cell number. I’ll run up there and see what’s going on.”

I hung up and put the phone in my lap. My 9yo started crying and wanted to know if Daddy got run over by a car. (nice! so much for Mom keeping calm).

It was an ETERNITY (more like 3 minutes) before my phone rang again. In this time I tried to remember if I had kissed him goodbye before he left for work that morning.

RINGING PHONE!!!!!!!!!

Me: “Hello?”

Dr.B.: “Hey, it’s me. All seems fine. There are workers patching the house next door, and Bill is riding around on the lawn mower cutting the lawn. Your yard is torn up though”

Me: “Thank God! Thanks M so much for doing that!”

I got Jell-O legs and tried to act casual to the kids. Huge sigh of relief.

I got home and it seemed the whole town was there to see what happened. Apparently the driver passed out as he was pulling away from the gas station and his foot mashed down on the accelerator. He jumped a 2 foot high, vertical city curb, another foot high cement wall, and literally plowed through our whole front yard. He then jumped both curbs on the other side of the yard and plowed into the retirement home next door. No one was hurt, thank God, and the gentleman was taken to the hospital by ambulance to assess why he passed out.

Bill said that he was climbing on the mower to go do the front lawn when he heard tires screeching. He climbed off, walked around to the front and saw the car lodged up against the front of the retirement house, with the back tires still spinning like mad. He ran over, and “Bill the PA” took over and checked the guy out.

If Bill had gone out just a minute or two earlier than he did, it would have been a disaster, as he would have surely been hit. He wears ear plugs, and the car went across the entire front lawn. There would have been no escape.

It was a random, freak occurrence that could have devastated my family.

I have always kissed Bill as he leaves for work in the a.m., but it has now taken on new meaning. I think we should always, no matter how frustrated or angry we are with our spouses, try to kiss them and tell them how loved they are before they leave the house. Treat each day with respect and don’t take one moment of your time together for granted.

That is very hard to do in the midst of trying times, 4 kids, bills to be paid, chores to be done. It only takes a moment to show your affection. It also only takes a moment for chance to take that moment away from you forever.