Angels Among Us

I’ve always thought of myself as a pretty tough guy. I never cry. I’m a big weight lifting guy. I work as an armed security guard for the government. I’ve been trained to shoot to kill, to arm bar someone to the ground, apply pressure point compliance, and handcuff them. There are firearms in my home, and not far from reach. ( for me, NOT THE KIDS ).

Today, I found out I’m not as tough as I thought. Today, I discovered there is a chink in my armor, a breach in my fortifications.

I live in an old farm house out in the country, and when we moved in there was a lot of reminders around the place of the old farm, which for the last four years I have been slowly cleaning up, mainly fencing. Today, I was unbolting and old cattle gate from a post. My wife was trimming weeds nearby, as the kids played in the yard. I finally got all the nuts from the u-bolts and was attempting to yank the gate - which probably weighs around one hundred pounds - from off the u-bolts. It was sticking. I gave it one really good yank, and to my much surprise it slipped free with ease. This put me completely off balance. The corner of the gate dropped to the ground, causing me to take a stumble forward. Being off balance and the weight of the cattle gate pulling me forward, I completely lost my balance, and began to fall, holding onto the gate in front of me. To my absolute horror I saw my two year old son standing right in front of me, completely in the path of the gate and myself!

It all becomes a blur at this point. A blur in slow motion. The worst part is it took a couple of seconds to fall. An eternity to contemplate the worst of which was about to occur, and completely out of my control to stop it. I heard my wife screaming. I realized I too was yelling incoherently. It was like I wasn’t even in my body. I remember trying to reach through the bars of the gate as I fell, trying to grab my son and actually throw him out of the way in time. I think I managed to push him, but I can’t remember. My final thought was, This is going to kill him or really seriously injure him at the least.

The next thing I knew the cattle gate and I were both atop my son. the top bar was right across his throat. He was screaming. I can’t convey in words my horror. I couldn’t get off! I was sprawled on the stupid gate, and couldn’t get off! “ I can’t get off “! I yelled, as my son continued to struggle and scream beneath what must have been over three hundred pounds of weight. I distinctly remember a small bit of blood trickling from his lower lip. At this point my wife and I had one of those adrenaline moments. I just knew I needed to get the weight off of him..somehow! Holding on to the gate with my right hand and holding it close to my chest, I extended my left hand and basically did a one armed pushup, pulling the gate and myself off my son. My wife at this point did her best impersonation of Xena Warrior Princess, and lifted the full weight of the gate and myself even higher.

We got clear of the gate, and I scooped up my boy into my arms. I was so afraid I’d crushed his tiny rib cage, or collar bones. upon examination, I am glad and grateful to report he was perfectly ok except the bloody lip. He keeps trying to wrestle with me even as I type this.

I have always believed in God, and I think he was there with me today. Maybe it wasn’t adrenaline that allowed such an exertion of strength. Which I have to add must have been a major effort. My left triceps is as sore after that two three seconds as after any major workout. My abs feel like I did a thousand sit ups today.

I wanted to take this chance to thank the Big Guy Upstairs in as public a way as I know how. I think about what a disaster this could have been. I should have been rushing to the emergency room at the very least. To get off scott free like this...

What more can I say? I got a second chance. I hope that by posting this maybe I can reach out to some of those in the blogosphere in need of a little boost. As Alabama the country band once sang. “ I believe there are angels among us...”

Peace to all.