When everything changed for me...

1. Before CHF in the Year of our Lord 2002 I was a working man. I drove a two ton truck. I sat higher than most, could see the road a mile ahead of most and wore a hat. The hat said Cain's Coffee. I was the "Coffee Man". I had clients in three counties and I helped them run their restaurants. When the Coffee Man would pull up in their parking lot, it was time to get down to business. The business of coffee. The Coffee Man has arrived. Did you know that coffee is #2 on the commodity market second only to oil? What makes the world go 'round? Coffee man. You'd better believe it. This is serious stuff. At an ODOT (okla. dept. of transportation) road check I was told, "You can go through, you'd better get that good coffee of yours delivered!" So with a smile the Coffee Man was on his way down the road. I took over the route from a guy who had made a mess of it. I showed up on time, had fun and sold coffee, spices, pancake mix, gallon goods, cappuccino. I sold it all. When someone would say, "Coffee is Just Coffee", I would cringe. Then I would begin to share my newfound expertise. Coffee is not just coffee. Is the sky just blue? Have you tried Kenyan coffee? Did you know we get some of our coffee from Vietnam? Did you know coffee can only be grown 100 miles north or south of the Equator? Ethiopian coffee has a distinctly earthy flavor that will attack your palate like a mouthful of dirt and then will begin to make your tongue dance with joy as the flavor compounds jitter across your tongue. I was on one of my highs travelling from Cookson Hills back to Keys Ok. The roads are windy. Up and down, back and forth. You'd better know these roads because if you miss it by much you'll be sliding down the side of a mountain. I could see them from a distance. The most Norman Rockwellian moment of my life. A mother hen and her chicks out for an afternoon stroll. I had time to count the chicks. At least twelve. I could see them chirping saying "Mom, I am right behing you. " The mother confidently leading the way saying "Follow me children and we'll safely reach the other side." Time did move in slow motion and all in the world was truthfully right for the first time in a long time. I lost all notion of being a man, a warrior. Something was touching me deeply..............and then.........just over the hill............I'm moving forward..........musn't run over the chicks..............and over the hill...................an 18 wheeler coming much faster than I..........HOLY CRAP!............NOO!.. Yes I screamed NO! In a matter of seconds as I flew by the mother and chicks, the 18 wheeler, with no obvious regard for God's creation, flattened, yes flattened my Norman Rockwell painting. My rearview mirror showed nothing but feathers. Feathers as high as I could see. Feathers up to the window of the 18 wheeler and a mother hen lying legs up in the middle of the road. I don't know why I'm laughing now because in that moment I saw how fragile life really is. Everybody that I told that story to would laugh their silly heads off and would look at me like, "You can't be serious. That really bothered you?" Yes it did, and it does. Then why am I laughing?