In a single moment

Blink. Count to one. Take a single breath. A moment in time. A single second and a life is changed forever.

I went out to dinner tonight with my girls. On my way to that shopping spree we were going too. The resturant was busy and there was a wait. So I sat down with the girls on a bench to await my turn. To my side sat a paper and I noticed that the headline read "Deadly Car Crash". Well that sounded interesting, didn't it? I never read the paper. But for some reason there it sat next to me, calling me to read it. As I scanned the story I noticed the name.....my neighbor. My sweet grandmotherly neighbor. Megan's girlfriend's Grandmother. The same woman that would pick up Megan along with her Granddaughter at the bus stop and drive her to my house in a rain storm so Megan would not get wet. The same woman that chatted with me outside about the weather, flowers and holidays coming up. My neighbor is gone.

A stupid act took her life. A young girl drove through a stop sign driving over 80mph on a small side street and hit her broadside. Susan Stamp died in the blink of an eye yesterday morning at 5:38am while her family slept on unknowing. She was simply on her way to work.

As I sat at dinner in shock I thought about the time it took to take Susans life. And did I tell my own family that I loved them today? That they mean more than anything in the world to me. That they changed my life forever. Did I tell them that? It takes only a moment in time to do so. Did I take that moment at some point today?

Blink. Count to one. Take a single breath. Say "I love you". A moment in time. A single second and a life is changed forever.

RIP
Susan Stamp
5/21/09