Call me crazy. But that tree’s purpose was planted a long time ago to make sure it would save a man’s life by the name of Switter. You’re worth that much.
Marc, I agree totally with what you said. Why and for what reason I may never know, but there is a reason. In the spring when the snow is gone, I’m going to put on a pair of Birkenstocks and one of those ponytail baseball caps, spray myself with patchouli oil, and I am going to hike back down to that tree and hug it.
In my little town, news spreads quickly and now people are asking me to buy lottery tickets for them!
Yow! Hair-raising, if you ask me! A very vivid account-- I was in that truck with you, and didn't want to be! One minute you're driving along, next minute you are upside down hovering over a river in the embrace of a tree. Life can change in an instant. You faced it philosophically, but don't be surprised if the experience visits you again and again for a while.
I understand how a traumatic experience sticks around. That is why I went in for a counseling session asap. Debriefing is critical, but I always thought I was supposed to just tough it out. I don’t think that way anymore. Counselors can really make a difference.
Wow! You do have an incredible way with words bringing all of us along with you! I began reading this days after you posted thinking this was a memory story. But while reading I realized this was a 'here and now' story! So very thankful for miracles, trees, angels, grace, and love far beyond our imagination, especially in preserving your life! You have a purpose for each new day! Thank you for continuing to inspire and bless us, our friend!!
p.s. I have to admit your road has always had me clinging, even if mentally, to the inside bank around those corners...
On the plus side, we never had a door to. door salesman in 43 years. Only one hardy Jehovah Witness in all these years who was a friend who forgot w lived here, but I gave him a hug anyway. Also, no casual drop-ins.
I am thinking about dragging a log across the exit I made last Sunday, just to be on the safe side.
Oh my goodness Switter. My heart was racing and pounding right along with you. Not as you described the 'as it was happening', but the dreaded after it happened and the 'what if's.' I'm glad to hear you were able to use the tools to get you off the what if track. Interestingly, I too, listen to audiobooks when I need to sleep (and I can't get my husband to tell me a story.) He did make me buy a headset though so he didn't have to listen. I'm so relieved to hear you are OK. I believe in miracles, and you my friend, just had one. Huzzah!
When my son asked me the morning after if I was bruised anywhere or sore, I told him no, because his old dad is tougher than a $2 steak. I kinda lied. I had a full coverage, no deductible platinum grade miracle. I did nothing to deserve it. I didn’t even know I needed a miracle until I unbuckled my seat belt next to that tree, but it was given to me free of charge. There’s a good word for that, maybe the last good word in the world according to author Phillip Yancy. The word is grace. I got what I needed when I needed it the most without any effort on my part.
Which then raises a question. What do I do now? I can think of only one thing to answer that question, and it was acted out during the first scene in Saving Private Ryan, where an elderly formerly Private Ryan and his family are looking for the grave in a Normandy military cemetery. When he finally finds the grave, he is overcome by emotion as he hopes he lived a life worthy of the sacrifices made on his behalf. What do I do now? Try to live my life so that the miracle I was given is not wasted.
Grace is the word that immediately came to mind as I read your comment here. As you've alluded to, I'm not sure any of us earns grace - but you can't go wrong trying to do good works to show you're appreciative. You're already doing lots of that.
As I said, grace is the last good word. I have a difficult time being on the receiving end of grace, but that problem has gotten quite a few beatings over the years. I’ll go way out of my way to do something nice for someone, but turn the tables and I am fully capable of making a real jackass of myself. I am slowly changing that nonsense in my life, but it’s a struggle to accept help when help is offered and needed. As Tara Westover wrote in her most excellent book Educated, refusing help and telling people who want to help you that you are fine is exactly what not fine people say. There needs to be a reciprocity rule that requires that anyone who wants to extend help must also be willing to accept help when help is needed.
I can so relate to this comment - so often the case with yours. I really struggle with accepting help as well and yet give it at the drop of the hat. "Switter's reciprocity rule" or A "Switterism" either way, a great thing to remember.
Listening to the human voice reading a story works better for me than Ambien ever did. Sure, Big pharma doesn’t make any money from it, but a writer and a reader does, and they are part of our writing family.
When my wife and I are traveling in the car and I am listening to an audiobook, she finds it puzzling. “You listen to audiobooks to go to sleep at night and you listen to audiobooks to keep alert when you drive. How can it work both ways?”
I haven’t figured out a way to listen to audiobooks with my husband in the car. I can’t wear my earphones. Sometimes I just say I have to, but most of the time I’ll respect he doesn’t want to. Sometime I’ll go for a drive, just to listen.
I have audiobooks we both enjoy. For example, we really enjoy Alexander McCall Smith’s No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series, so we will listen to those together. A year or so ago, I discovered a couple of books written by the mother and the wife of the guy who shot 12 Amish girls at Nickel Mine, PA in 2006. They are intensely gripping stories of how a terrible tragedy was transformed by forgiveness into something truly beautiful. (I’m pretty sure we both had moist eyes as we listened.) We also enjoy Pat McManus’ humorous books on growing up and living in Northern Idaho. They are outdoorsy, if you are into that sort of thing, and even if you are not, the series is still amusing.
Otherwise, I plug in my noise cancelling AirPods and listen to things I thrive on but my wife finds absolutely stultifying, and vice versa.
Jiminy crickets! The trees know what's what. Evidently, the word is out around the woods that you're the guy planting sequoias. Looks like the trees want you to keep it up. Glad you are ok. Glad you have the trees on your side.
Glad you’re still here without any damage. Letting go and relaxing when you did honestly made a huge difference. Without that, your body would be pretty beat up. It’s good evidence that everything you’ve been practicing for so long really IS working.
My son called me the day after and asked me if I was sore yet. I said no. He said I was lucky. I said it wasn’t luck; old dad is tougher than a $2 steak.
Sometimes if you don’t laugh, you’ll end up crying. I prefer to laugh.
Having lived in Yellowstone and Colorado, you had me in a very intense manner as you described the snow on top of ice, five hundred feet above the river. I am SO glad this wasn't being relayed by your wife! On one of my wife's and my first dates, we came inches from the same type plunge - about the same vertical drop but down to a lake barely visible because of the shear drop. I certainly leave a place for miracles because of my own unfathomable escapes with death but this one didn't qualify; it was all of my driving finesse - or so I like to think. You certainly have got me thinking that I should share my - "brushes with angels" as my wife likes to consider them.
Some of us moderns still believe in miracles. There really are no 'what ifs' or 'shoulda, woulda, coulda...there is only what happened and that God sent an angel disguised as a tree to save you. Grateful. ❤
It’s true. I connect with this because I almost died too in a car accident with my wife in the car. There wasn’t a tree- but the car hit me so hard, we got out and the car was still moving. I wrote a draft to share for Myles, but my wife said no. Said it’s too personal. Said we don’t have to relive it. But I feel like these are testimonies. Why else’s would God keep me alive, if I don’t share how kept me here to share such a story with my son.
Save it for him and give it to him when he is a young man. He needs to know how your live was preserved so he could enjoy a life.
I feel such a connection with you and Myles. I understand it because it feels like the connection I have with my son, but I don’t really have the words to properly describe what I feel. I just know it when I see it.
And if you end up with a daughter, be prepared. Your love will grow bigger than you could ever imagine.
I sure wish you and I lived closer. I think we could find a lot to talk about and it would all be good stuff.
Yes, there are some things that I’m saving just for him. I cl it the Griot files - (it’s an email I made for him). You know we want a second kid, as long as they are healthy. A girl would be beautiful . My wife and I actually wanted a girl at first, and had some gender disappointment when we found out. But we are so happy!
Agreed man- you sound like a hell of a guy who’s seen so many things. Grateful to have connected though!
The village ladies in Zimbabwe predicted our first baby would be a girl and they were right on the money. Never discount what a village lady tells you. They know stuff.
I have a draft I’m working on about things I learned from village ladies in Africa. Spoiler alert: one of the things they taught was to laugh at myself along with them when they were laughing at some of my American guy foibles. Could it be that one of my purposes in life was to give those village ladies something to laugh about? Honestly, I’m okay with that. I like having a purpose in life.
Haha love this. When we’re teaching in Ethiopia, a group of women also predicted my wife was pregnant before she did. It must be something about the mother land!
I’m so glad you are ok! Thank you for this. You just taught me a really valuable lesson. I go over and over the what if and I get all freaked out about them and try to prevent them from happening again. I forget to focus on that it didn’t happen. Thank you for sharing the story. Again I’m really glad you are OK!
Call me crazy. But that tree’s purpose was planted a long time ago to make sure it would save a man’s life by the name of Switter. You’re worth that much.
Marc, I agree totally with what you said. Why and for what reason I may never know, but there is a reason. In the spring when the snow is gone, I’m going to put on a pair of Birkenstocks and one of those ponytail baseball caps, spray myself with patchouli oil, and I am going to hike back down to that tree and hug it.
In my little town, news spreads quickly and now people are asking me to buy lottery tickets for them!
Yow! Hair-raising, if you ask me! A very vivid account-- I was in that truck with you, and didn't want to be! One minute you're driving along, next minute you are upside down hovering over a river in the embrace of a tree. Life can change in an instant. You faced it philosophically, but don't be surprised if the experience visits you again and again for a while.
I understand how a traumatic experience sticks around. That is why I went in for a counseling session asap. Debriefing is critical, but I always thought I was supposed to just tough it out. I don’t think that way anymore. Counselors can really make a difference.
It will. Listen to this advice.
I am so thankful that we have guardian angels and a loving God!
No question about it.
Wow! You do have an incredible way with words bringing all of us along with you! I began reading this days after you posted thinking this was a memory story. But while reading I realized this was a 'here and now' story! So very thankful for miracles, trees, angels, grace, and love far beyond our imagination, especially in preserving your life! You have a purpose for each new day! Thank you for continuing to inspire and bless us, our friend!!
p.s. I have to admit your road has always had me clinging, even if mentally, to the inside bank around those corners...
On the plus side, we never had a door to. door salesman in 43 years. Only one hardy Jehovah Witness in all these years who was a friend who forgot w lived here, but I gave him a hug anyway. Also, no casual drop-ins.
I am thinking about dragging a log across the exit I made last Sunday, just to be on the safe side.
Oh my goodness Switter. My heart was racing and pounding right along with you. Not as you described the 'as it was happening', but the dreaded after it happened and the 'what if's.' I'm glad to hear you were able to use the tools to get you off the what if track. Interestingly, I too, listen to audiobooks when I need to sleep (and I can't get my husband to tell me a story.) He did make me buy a headset though so he didn't have to listen. I'm so relieved to hear you are OK. I believe in miracles, and you my friend, just had one. Huzzah!
Yes, I did.
When my son asked me the morning after if I was bruised anywhere or sore, I told him no, because his old dad is tougher than a $2 steak. I kinda lied. I had a full coverage, no deductible platinum grade miracle. I did nothing to deserve it. I didn’t even know I needed a miracle until I unbuckled my seat belt next to that tree, but it was given to me free of charge. There’s a good word for that, maybe the last good word in the world according to author Phillip Yancy. The word is grace. I got what I needed when I needed it the most without any effort on my part.
Which then raises a question. What do I do now? I can think of only one thing to answer that question, and it was acted out during the first scene in Saving Private Ryan, where an elderly formerly Private Ryan and his family are looking for the grave in a Normandy military cemetery. When he finally finds the grave, he is overcome by emotion as he hopes he lived a life worthy of the sacrifices made on his behalf. What do I do now? Try to live my life so that the miracle I was given is not wasted.
I intend not to waste it.
Beautiful. And I’m very certain you won’t Private Switter Ryan.
Grace is the word that immediately came to mind as I read your comment here. As you've alluded to, I'm not sure any of us earns grace - but you can't go wrong trying to do good works to show you're appreciative. You're already doing lots of that.
As I said, grace is the last good word. I have a difficult time being on the receiving end of grace, but that problem has gotten quite a few beatings over the years. I’ll go way out of my way to do something nice for someone, but turn the tables and I am fully capable of making a real jackass of myself. I am slowly changing that nonsense in my life, but it’s a struggle to accept help when help is offered and needed. As Tara Westover wrote in her most excellent book Educated, refusing help and telling people who want to help you that you are fine is exactly what not fine people say. There needs to be a reciprocity rule that requires that anyone who wants to extend help must also be willing to accept help when help is needed.
I can so relate to this comment - so often the case with yours. I really struggle with accepting help as well and yet give it at the drop of the hat. "Switter's reciprocity rule" or A "Switterism" either way, a great thing to remember.
Listening to the human voice reading a story works better for me than Ambien ever did. Sure, Big pharma doesn’t make any money from it, but a writer and a reader does, and they are part of our writing family.
When my wife and I are traveling in the car and I am listening to an audiobook, she finds it puzzling. “You listen to audiobooks to go to sleep at night and you listen to audiobooks to keep alert when you drive. How can it work both ways?”
I don’t know. It just does.
I haven’t figured out a way to listen to audiobooks with my husband in the car. I can’t wear my earphones. Sometimes I just say I have to, but most of the time I’ll respect he doesn’t want to. Sometime I’ll go for a drive, just to listen.
I have audiobooks we both enjoy. For example, we really enjoy Alexander McCall Smith’s No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series, so we will listen to those together. A year or so ago, I discovered a couple of books written by the mother and the wife of the guy who shot 12 Amish girls at Nickel Mine, PA in 2006. They are intensely gripping stories of how a terrible tragedy was transformed by forgiveness into something truly beautiful. (I’m pretty sure we both had moist eyes as we listened.) We also enjoy Pat McManus’ humorous books on growing up and living in Northern Idaho. They are outdoorsy, if you are into that sort of thing, and even if you are not, the series is still amusing.
Otherwise, I plug in my noise cancelling AirPods and listen to things I thrive on but my wife finds absolutely stultifying, and vice versa.
😂
Thanks for the suggestions!
We received a gift like that. Be glad. I am for you.
Thank you. Life is sweet tonight.
Jiminy crickets! The trees know what's what. Evidently, the word is out around the woods that you're the guy planting sequoias. Looks like the trees want you to keep it up. Glad you are ok. Glad you have the trees on your side.
Somebody should write a book about trees and all they do for us. I just thought of a title: The Giving Tree. Think anyone would buy it?
It's actually my favorite children's book and I don't think any of my new nieces or nephews have escaped it. However, you gave it new meaning.
Hey, that’s a good name! I’m confident that at least 20 people would buy a book with a nice, uplifting name like that! 🙄🤥🫤
I have a knack for originality!
Glad you’re still here without any damage. Letting go and relaxing when you did honestly made a huge difference. Without that, your body would be pretty beat up. It’s good evidence that everything you’ve been practicing for so long really IS working.
Still, give yourself extra time to rest 🧡
I am taking it easy.
My son called me the day after and asked me if I was sore yet. I said no. He said I was lucky. I said it wasn’t luck; old dad is tougher than a $2 steak.
Sometimes if you don’t laugh, you’ll end up crying. I prefer to laugh.
Having lived in Yellowstone and Colorado, you had me in a very intense manner as you described the snow on top of ice, five hundred feet above the river. I am SO glad this wasn't being relayed by your wife! On one of my wife's and my first dates, we came inches from the same type plunge - about the same vertical drop but down to a lake barely visible because of the shear drop. I certainly leave a place for miracles because of my own unfathomable escapes with death but this one didn't qualify; it was all of my driving finesse - or so I like to think. You certainly have got me thinking that I should share my - "brushes with angels" as my wife likes to consider them.
I'm so glad you're OK!
I'm embarrassingly okay!
Some of us moderns still believe in miracles. There really are no 'what ifs' or 'shoulda, woulda, coulda...there is only what happened and that God sent an angel disguised as a tree to save you. Grateful. ❤
Some of us moderns have no choice except to believe in miracles.
I would ask you too! Haha idk but the imagery sounds hilarious!
If you can’t be happy and even make a few little jokes after something like that, when can you be happy?
It’s true. I connect with this because I almost died too in a car accident with my wife in the car. There wasn’t a tree- but the car hit me so hard, we got out and the car was still moving. I wrote a draft to share for Myles, but my wife said no. Said it’s too personal. Said we don’t have to relive it. But I feel like these are testimonies. Why else’s would God keep me alive, if I don’t share how kept me here to share such a story with my son.
Save it for him and give it to him when he is a young man. He needs to know how your live was preserved so he could enjoy a life.
I feel such a connection with you and Myles. I understand it because it feels like the connection I have with my son, but I don’t really have the words to properly describe what I feel. I just know it when I see it.
And if you end up with a daughter, be prepared. Your love will grow bigger than you could ever imagine.
I sure wish you and I lived closer. I think we could find a lot to talk about and it would all be good stuff.
Yes, there are some things that I’m saving just for him. I cl it the Griot files - (it’s an email I made for him). You know we want a second kid, as long as they are healthy. A girl would be beautiful . My wife and I actually wanted a girl at first, and had some gender disappointment when we found out. But we are so happy!
Agreed man- you sound like a hell of a guy who’s seen so many things. Grateful to have connected though!
The village ladies in Zimbabwe predicted our first baby would be a girl and they were right on the money. Never discount what a village lady tells you. They know stuff.
I have a draft I’m working on about things I learned from village ladies in Africa. Spoiler alert: one of the things they taught was to laugh at myself along with them when they were laughing at some of my American guy foibles. Could it be that one of my purposes in life was to give those village ladies something to laugh about? Honestly, I’m okay with that. I like having a purpose in life.
Haha love this. When we’re teaching in Ethiopia, a group of women also predicted my wife was pregnant before she did. It must be something about the mother land!
I’m so glad you are ok! Thank you for this. You just taught me a really valuable lesson. I go over and over the what if and I get all freaked out about them and try to prevent them from happening again. I forget to focus on that it didn’t happen. Thank you for sharing the story. Again I’m really glad you are OK!
Thanks, Karen. The what ifs are the never will be-s.
Wow what a ride. I thank God you are ok!
Next time you are out this way, you can try it too. I won’t do it again, because it’s just not that special to me anymore.
Wow! Glad you are ok.
Your neighbors kind of like you. For that, we all feel lucky. So sorry…that is a scary hill‼️🤯
I tried it so you don’t need to. Science and all that, you know.