Here are the Odds I Have Defied…So Far…

Day 10 of 31

Yesterday I wrote a 6 word memoir that said, “I Defy Odds More Than Most.” Now thinking about it I am not sure I really defy odds more than most people my age. I think when you live over half a century you are going to have stuff happen. There will be good stuff, bad stuff, shocking stuff, and well, just lots of stuff. Here are the events that come to mind.

1. The Fever
   • When I was a year old, I had a fever that was over 106 degrees. We don’t know how high it was because that was as high as the thermometer could register. My father found me in my crib with my eyes rolled back.
2. My Mother
   • I survived my mother’s physical and emotional abuse and broke the cycle. If you knew her you would understand.
3. Dog Attack
   • Yes, actual dog attack-snarling, growling, wouldn’t let go of me. I was alone and he finally just stopped.
4. Dead People Communication (Skeptics should skip this one)
   • People who have died find ways to communicate with me. Sometimes they appear in dreams of mine, sometimes I smell their cologne and at other times I have felt how they have died. It’s never scary, except that one time I heard my ex-brother in law humming while my dog barked in the direction of the humming. We were alone in the house. I don’t know if this qualifies as odd defying but when it happens it feels odd.
5. Cancer
   • I was diagnosed with scary stage III breast cancer with extracapsular extension. I was 40. I will save you the googling time: “Extracapsular extension (ECE) is the growth or spread of tumor cells outside of the lymph node capsule. ECE is recognized as an indicator of poor prognosis.” That was 18 years ago. Every single doctor visit defies the odds of recurrence.
6. Car Hits Tree
   • When I was helping my college boyfriend move from his house to his apartment it was raining hard. I was following him in my car and I hydroplaned and hit a tree. I was not wearing a seatbelt. No injuries to me-only to my car and to the large tree tree I hit.
7. The File Cabinet
   • When I was a young teacher, I was reorganizing an old unsafe, heavy file cabinet in my classroom. The cabinet became off balance as I moved the files around and it tipped over, sort of like a tree falling. I tried to hold it up so it would not crush me but it was too heavy. As it was falling on top of me, somehow I was thrown clear-like thrown across the room from the front of the classroom to the back of the classroom. I cannot explain it, but it felt like someone pushed me out of the way. No one was near me.
8. My Third Daughter
   • Our third child was adopted from China. When she was a toddler, I saw a picture online of a child (also adopted) who looked like my daughter and I “had a feeling” that they were related. My husband thought I was crazy and even mentioned the odds of stumbling on a birth sister would be something like 1.3 billion to 1 . We found out a year later that they are biological sisters.
9. Guy Runs Red Light (3 parts of odd defying)
   • Less than 2 months ago I was driving to pick up my daughter from the train station near our house and someone ran a red light. My side (the drivers side) was hit, my car spun, hit a tree and a road sign (also on my side of the vehicle). My car continued to spin, flipped over twice, landed upside down and slid to a stop. I was not going fast but the red light runner was. I got out of the car and walked away without injuries (some internal contusions, and a concussion but nothing major). I had no scratches and my tights did not rip or even pull, despite the fact that I was upside down and had to crawl through broken glass to exit the vehicle.
   • A police officer happened to be driving towards me, his dash cam recording and he ran to open my door. I don’t think I could have gotten out without him since the car had so much damage.
   • As I walked to the side of the road I noticed that my undamaged phone, glasses, and purse were face up in the middle of the street, as if I had placed them carefully on a coffee table.

Picture 1: Police officer dash cam view with him seeing if I was alive. He knew I was because I was screaming.

Picture 2: Taken right before the car was towed.