October 8th – Synchronicity

by annemariedemyen, posted in News & Views - October 2021

It took me a while to find a positive news story today, but I am relatively positive that I have found one that people can appreciate. This story is about a bike rider who was injured in a freak accident and the doctor who happened upon the scene and quite possibly saved his life.

In short, Corrections officer Todd Van Guilder was out riding the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails of Minnesota. After landing on his chest, when he leapt off of his bike to avoid a catastrophic accident, he lost conciousness . Dr. Jesse Coenen, an emergency room physician from Wisconsin, happened upon the scene. He saved Van Guilder from potential heart stoppage and possible death by performing an emergency cricothyrotomy.

Obviously, this is a story that had a positive outcome for Van Guilder and for Dr. Coenen! But I believe it is a positive story for all of us.

We are often told “It can happen in an instant…”. Life changing events typically with devastating results. Fortunately, amazing things also tend to happen in an instant! Too often, these moments go unnoticed because disaster was averted. Nothing to see here, folks!

For all of us these moments happen on a regular basis throughout the course of our lives. One such dramatic event happened in ‘our’ life a few years back. My husband came home early one day with a splitting headache. Although he is not prone to headaches, he decided to lay down for a bit and hope that it would pass. It did not. The next morning I asked him if he wanted me to take home to the hospital to be checked out but he declined. I left for work. A couple of hours later he decided that he should in fact get checked out. He pulled on shorts and a t-shirt and called a cab to take him to our nearest emergency room. Entering the emergency room, he walked past a door that happened to open at that moment. A young doctor sitting at a desk glanced up and saw Dan. In that brief moment, the doctor noticed a strange rash on Dan’s leg. He jumped up, ordered a gurney, and had Dan taken straight into a treatment room. If, if, if… If the stars had not aligned perfectly in one instant, I would probably have lost Dan to sepsis. It was that close.

There have been countless other moments in our lives. Some more notable than others . Like the day that we were driving to Gravelbourg, one of the few times that I was behind the wheel. Just as we approached the turnoff to Gravelbourg, a vehicle coming towards us sped around a curve and came straight for us – in our lane. I honestly have no idea how a head-on collision was averted, but at the last second the other driver swerved back into his lane.

I could recount dozens of such moments in our life and I am sure there are hundreds more that went by totally unnoticed.

There were of course other moments where an ordinary day turned extraordinary just due to one incredible instant of synchronicity. That chance encounter, that stroke of luck, the perfect moment in nature, that perfect photo, or that perfect sports shot – all happen in one instant.

What I think this says, is that one needs to be aware of the potential for bad and good in life. And, we need to live in the moment – because that moment holds the possibility for the devastating and the miraculous.

Take care and have a great day, filled with special moments. 💞

35 thoughts on “October 8th – Synchronicity”

  7. That was a very interesting article, Annmarie, thank you! I totally agree that our lives could change radically in a split second. The Lord was truly watching out for this man that day!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. It was an article that I found heart-warming for sure. To be honest, I am finding a lot of interesting things in the news this month. I think I was just too focussed on the two or three that always made it to the front page. 🤨

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Not in cities or towns. Lots in the country when we have enough s ow built up for them. When we lived up north, everybody had them. There is a lot more open public lands and lakes further north.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. That makes sense! You say when you were up north. From my perspective, you are waaay up north! My folks had a cabin in the 1970s in Houghton Lake, Michigan.

    The kids actually rode their snowmobiles to school! Houghton Lake is a very large lake, and a very shallow lake. It took a few minutes to cross the entire lake on a snowmobile.

    It froze to the bottom in many places because it was so shallow. In those days, the city sponsored a huge fishing and fun party held on the lake itself, you will see literally hundreds and hundreds of snowmobiles, cars, trucks and motorcycles on the lake in that area.

    How can it hold up that much weight, unless it’s frozen to the bottom? But, the lake also froze to at least three feet thick in the deeper areas. There were also helicopter rides!

    Liked by 1 person

  14. I spent time at Thompson, Manitoba with my sister and brother in law. That is pretty far north. When I was married to my ex, we lived at La Ronge, Sask. It is off of Lac la Ronge – huge and deep, Lloydminster on the Sask and Alberta border, North Battleford, Sask. and a few years at Spruce Lake, Sask. (that was a huge exciting place with a population of fifty – including the five of us. It is about an hour north of North Battleford). Beautiful scenery and some good years. You should check out Lac la Ronge on Google World if you have it. It is stunning.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. What a great post. Thank you, for sharing some of your experiences with things happening in an instant. There have been many in my life. You are really good at thinking of things to blog about, I wish I could think of subjects to share experiences about. I enjoyed this post very much Anne.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Thank you, Frony! I am having a lot of fun with this news one. I usually get disgusted by the second page of the paper and quit reading it, but searching out more obscure stories is really interesting. You could try writing your take and experiences on topics on other WordPress posts. You are certainly welcome to use any from my blogs. It would be fun for me to read them!

    Liked by 1 person

  24. There were a lot of farmers that belonged to the overall community. There was a store, curling rink, skating rinks, town hall, post office, restaurant, and a water treatment plant. I was in charge of the water treatment plant – testing, adding chemicals and reading meters. The town council cleaned the holding tanks. 😏

    Liked by 1 person

  33. Love this, Annmarie and you are absolutely right. Life is short and we only ever have this one present moment – we could be gone the next! After living life a few decades or so (tongue in cheek) and experiencing many such events I have to say, hear, hear!

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment