Blink

 

Earlier this month, I wished a good friend a happy 50th, hoping she'd spend a great day with her family. Little did I know (in fact I only found out yesterday) that her birthday took a horrible turn when towards the end of an extended bike trip (the whole family are passionate cyclists) her husband suffered cardiac arrest and despite help arriving quickly and a lot of lucky circumstances happening the short version of the story is that he has been in an induced coma ever since, not yet able to breathe by  himself. Under "normal circumstances" you push away the fact just how quickly a happy day can take a turn for the worse when an inattentive driver who's texting on his phone runs over someone or as in this case, a heart just stops beating and your loved one's lives are turned upside down at the blink of an eye. It's not that you have never heard such stories (and thankfully, often also their happy endings), but you hope that it won't ever be somebody close to you.