I wish I could know how many almost-deaths I’ve had. You know, how many times I should have died but stayed miraculously alive, untouched or even unaware of the situation at hand. These are miracles and they happen more often than we could possibly know.
This week it is a miracle that my good friend and co-worker Moe is still alive. She had unawaredly been sleeping in a house with a carbonmonoxide leak that registered off the charts. After smelling gas and getting suspicious, she called the gas surveyor. The surveyor has worked with gas for twenty years and never in his career has seen carbonmonoxide levels reach such a height. He explained it to Moe as follows: the equivalent of a level 10 of carbonmonoxide will result in seizures and probable death. Moe’s house registered at a level 767. There is no explicable reason why Moe is still alive.
Most importantly however is what Moe did next: she celebrated. She texted everyone she knew, called her family, and did everything she could think of to celebrate her joy of living. Then she did something even more wonderful: she took the next day off from work. She declared it a “We-Love-Life-Day,” and she and her boyfriend spent the day like children doing everything you shouldn’t necessarily be doing on a Wednesday. On Thursday when she came into work, she was skipping, jumping, smiling and high-fiving everyone; she wanted to share her joy with others and it worked. She said happy hellos to strangers and told everyone to get their update their house’s carbonmonoxide detectors.
Life is precious. Treat it as such. Take a day and declare it your We-Love-Life Day just like Moe did.