You know why I’m thankful for “near misses”?  Because they are “NEAR misses” and not “hits”.

Many days I walk from my office to Starbucks to write and get away at lunch.  The intersection I cross each day is innocent enough.  It’s a fairly busy road, but traffic moves slowly.  And yet, I’ve still had several “near misses” crossing the street.  The other day was particularly scary.  I could touch the hood of the car before the driver even saw me.  When she did finally see me I thought she was going to have a heart attack right there.  She looked scared.  I’m going to guess that I looked equally scared.

I was crossing legally and she was making a left hand turn.  I suspect the number of “near misses” in this particular intersection can be attributed to the VERY short duration of the green light.  I myself have struggled to make a left hand turn.  Luckily I’ve never come that close to hitting anyone.  Because I know it’s a sketchy intersection I pay closer attention when I’m driving through it.

The car behind the gal that almost hit me, stopped right in the middle of the intersection.  She too looked a bit scared by what she nearly saw happen.  The guy in the third car rolled down his window and said “she almost hit you”.  I replied “ya…I know”.  Even now I find his comment funny.  Did he actually think I hadn’t noticed that my life was nearly cut short?

Have you ever thought of something you “should have done” after an interaction?  Afterwards I wondered why I didn’t bang my fist on her hood to warn her.  Yes…she was that close.

Today crossing the same intersection was a breeze, but now every time I cross I have a heightened awareness…and a thankfulness.