Mission not accomplished
by Mila Glodava
On Thursday, May 27, I celebrated my 59th birthday. I received greetings and gifts, mostly flowers and cards. I usually ask my family and friends not to give me any gifts, but if they so choose, they can make instead a donation in my name to Metro Infanta Foundation (This was good timing because it was good start to receive some matching grants from our special supporter, the Weckbaugh Foundation).
Reaching my 59th birthday was special to me, not because of the greetings and gifts, but because the night before, after a wonderful time celebrating my birthday (in one of Colorado's most spectacular country clubs with a view that some may say "to die for,") my friends and I came out of a car accident (thank God), unhurt in a badly damaged car.
As I was looking at a vase of beautiful roses (I was told there were a hundred roses) that came to my office from a good friend, I cannot help but think these flowers could have been for another reason.
Only two weeks ago, I had a near-miss experience on a Colorado highway involving a girder. It made national news, so some of you might have heard about it. Well I was there! I was coming home with a friend, Dolly Banzon, from Vail, and if I had driven just a bit faster than I did, it could have been us under that girder. While I did not see the girder falling (I must must have been concentrating on my driving), Dolly did.
After I realized what had happened, I thought I had to change lanes immediately just in case we can still get through. I ended up just at the end of a guard rail under the bridge. After checking out what had happened (one van was cut in half, with the front end stuck under the girder and the other half thrown several hundred feet way to the median), we realized that there was no way we can get through the fallen girder.
Although saddened by the fact that there's no way anyone can survive the impact of the fall, our next thought was to get out of there before we get stuck in traffic. Because we were just outside the guard rail and had no obstacle to get out, we pulled out to the median and on to the opposite side of the highway and off we went.
The accident really did not hit me (same with Dolly) until I came home and heard on the news that three died in the accident. I cannot help but think, "What if the other half of the van was thrown backwards, there could have been a chain reaction that could have affected many more people, including us. Or what if the girder also pulled the rest of the bridge down. Again, more people could have been killed. Thank God nothing of the sort happened.
Right now all I can think of is, "thank God for making me reach my 59th birthday." Thank God for letting me have more time to be with my family and friends and to accomplish my mission on this earth.