Experiencing Life from All Sides

by Susan Paradise

 

Embracing life calls on many points of view, especially the serious, humorous, and spiritual.

 

The Serious View - Recently I met a girlfriend for lunch. (I'll call her Tammy.) We had not seen each other in twenty years. Alone in our booth, we laughed, reminisced, and shared the latest news. Then as Tammy brought me up to date on her life, I swallowed a bit of food. But something was immediately wrong. The food had lodged in my throat. I swallowed again. Nothing. I couldn't breathe.

 

As Tammy talked, I quickly took a sip of water. No relief. Now neither that lump nor the water would go down. I frantically pointed to my throat, but Tammy continued on, not understanding the emergency. My hand slammed hard on the table. Plates rattled loudly. I leapt to my feet.

 

Finally my friend caught on. "Choking!" she yelled. Her cry quickly grew as others took up her call. "Choking!" "Choking!" Before I realized what was happening, a strong man grabbed me around the waist. The Heimlich maneuver was executed perfectly. The food dislodged. And my life was saved.

 

The Humorous View - Just as I was falling into the depths of my choking experience, my friend shared something about her life. It was quite startling, perhaps not on the order of choking to death, but startling just the same. Tammy saw me frantically point to my throat. Believing I was choking from emotion, she said, "I know, right!"

 

In my ever-growing panic, I pointed to my throat a second time. Tammy replied again, "I know, right!" It was at that moment I slammed my hand on the table, stood up, and prepared to die. I looked around the room, then out of the corner of my eye noticed my friend. She was sprawled out on the floor. My immediate thought was, "Sorry, but I'm the one dying here!"

 

Tammy had forgotten our table was a step above floor level. As she jumped to get to me, she fell down that step. So there we were...2 kinda old ladies---one choking to death and one lying on the floor.

 

The Spiritual View - Once again breathing, I recovered somewhat in our booth. When I asked who had performed the Heimlich on me, Tammy pointed across the restaurant to a man sitting with a woman. Then she described how I had been rescued.

 

While servers were yelling to someone in the kitchen that I was choking, a small crowd of diners had gathered around me. Suddenly this man shouted for everyone to back away and let him through. He then saved my life and calmly returned to his table.

 

Once I was fully recovered, I went over and thanked him. An off-duty policeman who had been in the military, he tried to downplay what he had done. Then his wife excitedly explained how they had been torn between going to this restaurant or another. Finally they had chosen this one.

 

"Well," I said, "that was another God-thing!" She replied, "I know, right!"

 

This Thanksgiving Season - I thank God for my life, His humor, His protection, and His getting the glory. How about you? Have you thanked Him yet? 

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