Witnessing a Spectacular Moment...

For just one moment, one snapshot of the day, one spectacular moment, time stands still and YOU witness it!

Years ago, while I was living in Houston, Texas, I was on my way to a doctor's visit. I was much younger and I drove much more agressively then.
Well, I had to....to keep from getting trampled on I-10. I found out quick that you have to be agressive to "hang" with Houston drivers.
Anyway, I was running late for my visit, so I was kind of riding the bumper of the Mercedes Benz in front of me. I know, I know....if I had a redo, I would have put a little space between their back bumper and my front bumper.
We came to a traffic light and it turned red, the Mercedes Benz stopped quickly, therefore I did the same. The light turned green and I was reving to go and started up right on their bumper. As the Mercedes went through the intersection, a pickup truck came blasting through the red light smashing right into the Mercedes Benz .... within inches in front of me. Time stood still and the vehicles spinning around looked as if they were in slow motion. I jumped out of my car and ran to the Mercedes and tried to open the driver door. As I was finally able to get the door open, a young teenage boy emerges from the passenger side and looks at the car. I am saying to the woman "Are you ok?" The young guy yells out "MOM, LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO THE BENZ!" Someone else ran over to the pickup truck...thank goodness, no one was seriously hurt. However, the Benz was mostly totalled.
This happened right before my eyes. Just think, if the car in front of me had gone through the traffic light right before it turned red, it would have left me there to be the first car coming through the intersection once we got the green light! That could have been me in that accident!!

I had dinner with my parents the other night. My dad told me two stories that were fascinating....So, if you can stick around for a few minutes, I will try to be quick.

Dad and his friend Jim joined the Air Force at the same time. Fast forward to the end of the Korean War. Jim was a Reconnaissance fighter pilot, flying an RF-80, which means he flew with cameras instead of guns. To meet the critera of being able to go home from the war, the pilots had to fly 100 missions. Jim had flown 99 missions. North Korea, China and US signed a peace treaty. The day after the war was declared over, he was given his last mission to complete, then he could be on his way home. He was assigned to fly over China to take pictures in grid formation to see which direction the Korean military was moving.
FLY OVER CHINA?
That was probably one of the biggest risk flights he had been assigned to, since China was totally restricted.
Remember, he only had cameras, no weapons.
He flew into the China airspace, took the photos, turned around and started flying back. All of the sudden, here come THREE RUSSIAN MIGS chasing him. The Migs were used by China and were much faster than the RF-80, but his plane was a bit faster than normal since it was not loaded down with artillary and weapons.
Ok, that would be the only good thing about not carrying guns!
He had the pedal to the metal and couldn't go any faster, so he went low. He was flying as low as he could possibly fly.
About the time he reached the Yalu River, he passed by some Australians manning the artillery on the River.
They radio'ed up to Jim saying: " 'Ello Mate, I say, did you know you have 3 Migs on your ars?" Jim radio'ed back and said, "Yes, I know they are on my ars, can you get them off?"
They replied, "Most definitely will try".
All ended well except once he returned home, he was diagnosed with Ileitis. Imagine that?
Can you only imagine if you had been one of the Australians that witnessed the RF-80 skimming across the river being chased by 3 Migs? Wow!!!!!

Ok, time for one more?

My dad is very dedicated in his excercise. He walks/jogs, swims and plays golf daily. It is a rare day when he misses a workout.
I think that is why he looks 10 years younger than he is.
Anyway, one day he was running in his quiet neighborhood on the sidewalk. An SUV was coming toward him (not too fast, maybe 30 mph). The driver bent down to pick something off the floorboard.
While doing that, he hit the curb, which caused the vehicle to flip and all of the sudden, Dad saw this vehicle flying (sort of low to the ground) straight toward him.
He bent down as low as he could go and ran as fast as he could.
The next thing he turned around and saw it hit the fence and ground directly behind him! OMG! In a flash of time....time stood still and he witnessed this vehicle flying over him. He was inches from sure death! Unbelievable!
He ran over to the vehicle and the guy was sitting up straight with big eyes looking stunned.
Dad asked if he was ok and the guy said "yes, but I think I have ruined my car."
Dad found out the guy had just bought his vehicle brand new 2 days before.

Thanks for sticking around to the end of my three mini stories.
Spectacular moments in time....time that stands still long enough for you to witness. There are very few moments in a lifetime that one will witness a spectacular snapshot of time.
Do you have one to share?

Have a wonderful day!
~xo