The Little Gray Hair

It popped up on top of my head, the one single short gray hair.  I had met it before, and colored my hair.  The gray hair began to mock me.  You're getting old.  There's more of us coming.  You can't avoid this reality.

Then, I had a thought.  It was quiet at first but became louder until it completely drowned out the gray hair on my head.

You are getting older... you are blessed to be getting older.

You could have died... you did die.

When I was seventeen years old, I was in a near fatal car accident.  I don't remember anything at all and a lot of my memories from childhood are gone.   I was given medication that placed me in a coma for three days and wiped out that traumatizing morning, plus more.

My mother told me that my employer had called because I wasn't at work yet.  Then, she heard sirens.  She got dressed and waited by the phone for the call.

I remember her telling me they had told her to hurry.  Hurry to the local hospital where she kissed me on the forehead before they air lifted me to a bigger hospital.  Hurry to the next hospital because they didn't expect me to make it.

I don't know if I coded just once or if it was more than that.

Members of our family, friends and our church were praying.



Obviously, since I am writing this blog post, I didn't die.

I did break my left ankle, both my legs, both my arms, my left shoulder and collar bone.  Included in the list was a closed head injury.

Months were spent in hospitals and in therapy and years went by before a full recovery was made. An almost full recovery.

My family would say that the closed head injury altered my personality, making me sarcastic and weird.  Just like them.  Personally, I think it was genetics finally catching up to me.

I lived.  I am living.  I am getting older and yes, I am old enough to have a pesky gray hair on my head.

God bless that little fella for helping me put things into perspective.  I'm sure he'll peer his mocking self often in my life and he will be joined by family and friends who will move in completely uninvited... until my next hair appointment.