Sometimes you can almost feel an alternate timeline whizzing by. A hairs breadth away, having dodged something hideous. Generally I do not feel this feeling regarding good things, where I’m in the bad universe. Maybe that’s because I’m too busy dealing with whatever fallout I failed to dodge, who knows. 

Two examples of this feeling:

1. When Scout bit Roby’s nose I could almost taste the version of events where we rushed to the hospital and were caught up with researching pediatric reconstructive surgeons for months in a series of events that changed the trajectory of her life, and ours. That felt fairly close to having happened, and I was, and remain, enormously relieved that it didn’t. 

2. This morning when I woke up to another monumental flood, except instead of decimating the state capital, it swept away apartments and bridges and roads and streets in Plainfield, my town. Even though I don’t spend an awful lot of time in Plainfield, it’s still quite close. Few things make you feel like you dodged a bullet than folks you don’t talk to texting and calling to make sure you’re still alive. 

I’m sure there are other examples, things I’ve forgotten or avoided thinking about for long enough to have forgotten.