{"id":734,"date":"2015-03-23T20:29:58","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T03:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abysmalwitch.wordpress.com\/?p=734"},"modified":"2015-03-23T20:29:58","modified_gmt":"2015-03-24T03:29:58","slug":"things-can-change-in-an-instant-but-mostly-they-stay-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/abysmalwitch.com\/index.php\/2015\/03\/23\/things-can-change-in-an-instant-but-mostly-they-stay-the-same\/","title":{"rendered":"Things can change in an instant…but mostly they stay the same"},"content":{"rendered":"

Or change really, really slowly.<\/p>\n

I nearly died today. \u00a0One of those moments that happens periodically, when you feel the brush of death closer than usual. \u00a0Not the slow caress of death from bad habits or long-term illness, but the flirtatious goosing from a near miss.<\/p>\n

I was out for a walk, headed to a favourite park that requires walking past some major intersections. \u00a0Please note that I was wearing a purple jacket, orange and black socks, and green laces on my shoes. \u00a0Really, I was a jokeresque symphony of colours. \u00a0Not exactly blending into the background. \u00a0I have proof, check the picture. \u00a0The pic is from\u00a0after the rain (and thus my\u00a0drowned cat impression) but at the time of this story, the rain had yet to start so visibility was perfect.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1267\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I had already started to walk across the street, cheerfully following the instructions of the little glowing white man on the pole across from me. \u00a0That’s when a truck\u00a0decided to run the now ended left turn advance signal. Thankfully, the person he cut off honked. \u00a0I say thankfully because that’s why I looked up and paused and waited for the idiot to pass me by with a couple of feet to spare.<\/p>\n

If I hadn’t paused, at minimum he would have clipped me but most likely I would have been perfectly aligned\u00a0under his right wheel as he hit me.<\/p>\n

He noticed me about ten feet past where he would have run over me.<\/p>\n

I shared a bewildered head shake and shoulder shrug with the woman in the car beside the crosswalk. \u00a0Idiots. \u00a0What can you do?<\/p>\n

Life can change like that, one instant to the next. \u00a0Boom. \u00a0Crash. \u00a0Bang. \u00a0(Anyone else remember that Roxette song? \u00a0Well, Crash Boom Bang technically.) \u00a0And all of our life can be gone, all those unique memories disappeared into shmutz on a road. \u00a0We are ephemeral by definition of our lives. \u00a0It pays to remember this, at least now and again.<\/p>\n

Naturally I kept on walking. \u00a0Because what else do we do? \u00a0My life hadn’t actually changed. \u00a0No broken bones, no death, might as well keep to my purpose. \u00a0My thoughts churned around the importance of life and all of those typical things and then, as we tend to do, the moment passed and I was back in the musings I’d started with.<\/p>\n

About a week before I’d done the same walk with friends. \u00a0On that walk I came across some banana peels that demanded I take their pictures. \u00a0Hey, it was my birthday weekend, I didn’t say I was sober during this walk! lol. \u00a0Here are those banana peel portraits: \u00a0Banana in Puddle and Banana with Bag.<\/p>\n

\"RIMG1442\"<\/a> \"RIMG1443\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So here I am a week later, on essentially the same walk, and what do I see?<\/p>\n

\"RIMG1549\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Oh, banana, poor poor banana. \u00a0Slowly fading into the past. \u00a0As most of us do. \u00a0Most of life doesn’t change in that quick instant, that lightening strike of a car. \u00a0Most change is slow, changes coming in small bits, microbes eating away at who and what we are until we oh so slowly decay from living until death unto dirt.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, it is slow! \u00a0Meaning there is so much time to enjoy the moments, large and small, crazy and plain, thunderous and whisper soft.<\/p>\n

Those goosings from death are a chance to take the appreciation for everything else a little deeper into ourselves. \u00a0I know this in my\u00a0head but it’s my\u00a0heart that needed the reminder.<\/p>\n

Time to go live some life. \u00a0Because what is fed, grows.<\/p>\n

Blessings of the deep and wild to you all.<\/p>\n

Saturn,
\nThe Abysmal Witch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Or change really, really slowly. I nearly died today. \u00a0One of those moments that happens periodically, when you feel the brush of death closer than usual. \u00a0Not the slow caress of death from bad habits or long-term illness, but the flirtatious goosing from a near miss. I was out for a walk, headed to a … Continue reading Things can change in an instant…but mostly they stay the same<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,7,15],"tags":[32,51,72,142,144,172],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/abysmalwitch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/abysmalwitch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/abysmalwitch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/abysmalwitch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/abysmalwitch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/abysmalwitch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/abysmalwitch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/abysmalwitch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/abysmalwitch.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}