All in a moment

I haven't posted much - more like at all - lately. Sometimes it seems that life is moving too fast to stop and take account. Or, more accurately, bungling you up with tasks and considerations so mundane that they hardly seem worth commentary.

Then there are evenings like tonight.

Tonight was a fundraiser event for the Cape Ann TimeBank. A local restaurant, Guiseppes, was donating 10% of all sales - food, take out, even bev - to CATB. Plus, I was there with a team of folks selling 50/50 raffle tickets.

The night stareted off great. There was a lot of laughs and catching up and general craziness. Heaven bless the patience and organization of the waitstaff!!! I especially enjoyed hanging out with a fellow "partner in crime" who was helping out with the raffle. She was vibrant, joyous, and just a wee bit on the good side of catty.

Fast forward a few hours.

She was seated - LUCKILY - next to a fellow TimeBanker and her husband, a doctor. She said she felt odd. She laid her head down. Then she said her chest hurt. By the time they got her toward the door, she had collapsed.

I have never seen someone go so pale so fast. Her face went grey, her lips immediately drying out in a blistered pucker. Her chest went still.

It was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen.

Thank the UNIVERSE that getting her down to the floor helped stabilize her heartbeat. Her color returned, she regained consciousness, she became coherent. To the point where she was admonishing the EMT staff for not buying raffle tickets.

It was a laugh seeing her joke around with the medics and bitch about not going to the ER. And I am thankful that is how the night ended.

But I also left tonight with the knowledge that the body can go from full of life to teetering frightfully close to the otherside in a precious few moments.

There is no perfect time, there is no perfect place. It's a humble lesson we all must learn. THANK THE UNIVERSE it wasn't her time. Yet, I feel that I am lucky to have had her in my life no matter what. And that she was clearly in her element in that moment.

I don't know what else to say. I only know that I won't forget the loss of identifiable life in a vibrant human being so quickly and so shockingly intense. We should cherish our lives and the lives of those around us each and every day.