The knife cut cleanly across the tip of my finger from the first joint to the fingernail. Blood didn't just flow, it welled up and gushed, running down my hand and onto the wooden counter and immediately soaking through the handful of cocktail napkins I grabbed. Bright, splintery pain set in almost at once and I hollered one curse at the shocking, unexpected sharpness of the blade and another at my carelessness. Liv ran for the first aid kit with all the speed her 7 month pregnant form allowed. Some four hours later, the blood still soaking through the makeshift bandages, I called Doc who instantly agreed to meet me at the office where he cleaned, stitched and rebandaged the wound, then sent me home with dire threats of what would happen should I fail to follow his instructions about elevation and ice. I am nothing if not an obedient patient and I did as I was told.
A moment's inattention and a sharp knife combined to cost me a half day's wages and a weekend of awkward, one handed chores - reminding me that small distractions can have nasty repercussions. I thought of my old friend in New England, pausing just seconds from her driveway to light a cigarette, taking her eyes off the road for the barest instant, and slamming into a telephone pole. I thought of the morning, running late and half awake, I reached for toothpaste and ended up with Prell on my toothbrush, the time I happened to find my keys, before I knew they were missing, atop a carton of eggs in the refrigerator. Small distractions, no real harm done.
Life's larger distractions - making money, attaining permanent center stage, the search for power - take a harsher toll. They can rob us of the happy moments, the friendships, the fulfillment that these all too brief moments offer if we're paying attention. It's good to have a destination in mind and a plan on how to get there but the things that really matter happen on the journey.
Beware unsolicited advice, troubles that aren't your own, cell phones while driving and sharp knives. Trek on.
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