I honestly don’t know how I survived my childhood. I am pretty sure my guardian angel put in for early retirement after taking care of me all those years. I also think I might have been the reason why my Mom had to dye the gray out of her hair so often. Before I was ten years old I had already survived a wreck riding on the back of my older brother’s motorcycle, ruptured my groin when I fell off the ramp of the wooden, swinging bridge near our house, and had my skull split open when I hit a rock and flew over the handlebars of my bicycle. I had also been deathly ill with the Mumps and had to have an emergency surgery to have my infected tonsils cut out.

You would think that after going through all of this I would have been more careful but I was as reckless as ever. One day in the Fall I was exploring the woods near our home. I saw a huge tree with low hanging branches. The tree was surrounded on three sides by jagged rocks. Its leaves had all fallen near the front of it and lay there in a huge pile. It felt like a good tree to climb so I reached up and grabbed a branch. I slowly pulled myself up higher and higher. I decided to try for the top, reached up again, and slipped. I felt myself falling for a split second and then hit the leaves hard. If I had landed anywhere else I would have hit the rocks and died. I slowly stood up, dusted myself off, and decided it was best not to tell my Mom about it.

Looking back I am so thankful to God and my guardian angel for seeing me through so many close calls and near misses. I am still not sure how I survived my childhood, but I know why. I survived because God wanted me to.

Each day we wake up it is because God wants us to live another day. God wants us to love another day. God wants us to smile and laugh and sing and share our joy once more. God wants to give us another chance to help make this world a better place. Cherish each precious and priceless day you have here then. They are a gift from above.