Sister

We almost lost her. She rolled her SUV going 62 mph and was thrown out. Miraculously, she is alive. Miraculously, so is her son, almost 1 at the time, who rolled with the car 8 times. They life-flighted her to Salt Lake City, where she stayed in ICU almost 3 weeks. He escaped with exactly one little scratch.

I flew to SLC immediately to be by her side. Only I couldn't bear to see her in that hospital bed, tubes shoved down her throat, almost every bone in her body broken.

She couldn't talk; her only mode of communication was a pen strapped to her right index finger that she used to write. My mom saved all the notes.

Naturally, the first thing she asked when she saw me was "Did you bring me any cute shoes?"

The irony in the situation was that she was driving from the Real OC (Utah) back to her home in Washington (state). She had just been to Vegas at a dance camp.

Now she can never dance again.

She did, however, water ski for the first time 2 summers ago. I was lucky enough to be there to see it.

Anyway. It is amazing that she is still here with us. I could care less about her limp or the fact that she has tar forever ingrained in her skin from when she skidded across the road.

It will always serve as a reminder to me of just how precious life is. Just how much we should appreciate it and not waste time on pettiness. If I've learned anything, it's that we are very fortunate, indeed.

Everything is relative.