Luck is Believing You're Lucky

The first thing this morning, I sent a text message to Dr. Hammoudeh telling him about the bands in Steve's mouth that had broken over the weekend.  In the text, I explained that without the bands pulling Steve's mouth closed, the jaw wiring was dependent on just two small wires.  Those two small wires were pulling on two teeth instead of displacing the work to all the teeth to keep Steve's mouth closed.  Steve felt as though those two wires were literally pulling one of his teeth out.  It was very painful and scary.  Dr. Hammoudeh directed us to his Glendale office where Steve was scheduled to see Dr. Susan Lee.

The appointment with Dr. Lee went well.  She checked the painful tooth and determined that it was fine at least for now.  Then she replaced all the bands that had broken and both Steve and I appreciated how thorough she was.  Actually, we expected nothing less from an associate of Drs. Urata and Hammoudeh who we both consider excellent.  Dr. Lee suggested that Steve be seen weekly to prevent any potential problems with the bands.  She also gave him replacement bands in case he should have a problem at home.

We left the appointment feeling lucky that all went well.  Steve sat in the back seat to avoid any potential damage that could be done to his jaw if the air bags were to deploy in the unlikely event of an accident.  As I drove home in our little Volvo, I took a quick phone call from my sister but I didn't want to talk long because I still have that annoying case of laryngitis and traffic was starting to get heavy through downtown LA.  While driving through downtown, I had a nagging, uneasy feeling about the traffic because it started to back up a bit.  I maneuvered into the fast lane, anticipating the carpool lane entrance, but a couple of times drivers in the fast lane stopped abruptly for no apparent reason other than heavy traffic.  Luckily I had a decent amount of following distance and I was able to stop without having to slam on my brakes.  Each time, however, I couldn't help checking the rear view mirror to make sure the cars behind me stopped in time.

We drove through downtown, past the Staples Center, and I found myself really concentrating on my driving.  I was leaving a good margin in front for all the abrupt stopping by drivers in front of me.  And I noticed the black Toyota Tundra truck behind me in my rear view mirror.  Traffic slowed in front of me and I stopped with plenty of ease.  At that moment, I looked into the rear view mirror again, only to watch in absolute horror as the black truck behind me seemed to be accelerating instead of slowing down.  All I could think of was Steve, who had been through so much and, just to be safe, had deliberately sat in the back seat of this small car that was about to be directly impacted in the rear end by a Toyota Tundra.  "OH SH@T!!!" I yelled.  And then it happened.  We got smacked.  I could not even believe what had just transpired.  After making sure Steve was ok, I seriously didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The guy in the truck and I pulled over and got out which never happens in LA.  Usually the other guy makes a run for it because he's unlicensed or uninsured or both.  Luckily, this guy was super nice and honest.  I actually felt sorry for him, especially after I found out that last night he had to put his 16 year-old dog to sleep.  The first thing he asked was if we were ok.  When he saw Steve with all that metal around his jaw, well then he was really apologetic.  We exchanged information and according to his paperwork, his license and insurance were both valid.  He was a genuine nice guy.  The damage was pretty bad to his truck, not so much to our Volvo (a testament to Volvo) and we all shook hands, wished each other well, and went on about our way.  I think I might send him a sympathy card for the thing with his dog...poor guy.  The rest of the way home, we didn't talk much and then one of us would just start laughing at the ridiculousness of what had just happened in relation to all that has happened.

The point of this long, convoluted story is just what the title of this post says and what Steve and I have always believed:  Luck is believing you're lucky.  We believe that we are the two luckiest souls on earth and we've always believed that.  I don't know of any two people who've had such good fortune.  I could've died of cancer, Steve could've died of gunshot wounds, we could have both been transported to the hospital today from that car accident but none of that happened.  Instead, we are alive, together and healthy (almost) and we've met great doctors and nurses and a really nice citizen who, unfortunately, just lost his dog.  Man, we are really lucky.