It was fast-food night for the Pillow family and someone suggested we have Mexican Food, so we did. And it was delicious. So delicious in fact that I woke up in the middle of the night just to finish off that last burrito that was sitting in my fridge. Afterward I went back to bed and awakened to the craziest day of my life. This is probably the truest story I’ve ever told…partially. It all began as a normal day. The alarm clock rang; I stretched and opened my eyes and immediately noticed a huge crack in my bedroom ceiling! Even more startling than the size of this crack was the fact that it was spreading rapidly across my entire ceiling. In less than a minute, debris started to fall and a cracking noise resounded loudly until… BAM! I closed my eyes as I saw the ceiling start crashing down upon me. I screamed. A few very long seconds later I opened my eyes to see that the crack was gone and everything was back to normal. I rubbed my eyes, laughed and hurried out of bed. Afterward I had breakfast and headed off to work. Heading down the highway, I turned the radio on just in time to hear a newscaster mention that there was a recall on the car that I was driving. I was fast approaching an intersection whose light had just turned red, and when I hit the brakes they didn’t respond. I was now on a crash course with a procession of industrial trucks. There was no time left to try and swerve or do anything else so I closed my eyes and braced myself for…BAM! After a few seconds the sound of car horns honking startled me. I opened my eyes to see that I was stopped at the light which had now turned green and I was holding up traffic. “What the heck?” I said to myself as I stepped on the gas and continued my drive to work. I must’ve pumped my brakes a hundred times over the course of the next mile before I finally felt safe again. I was low on fuel so I pulled over at the next gas station to fill-up. While I was inside paying the cashier for my purchase I noticed a young man in a hooded sweatshirt and dark glasses enter the store. He walked directly to the cashier and brandished the biggest gun that I had ever seen in my life. He instructed the customers to lay down on the floor and told the cashier to hand over the cash. The cashier must’ve been feeling heroic because he refused to comply, which angered the gunman who promptly shot the man laying next to me. I was petrified and as I moved to wipe the splattered blood from my face the gunman was startled and turned toward me, aimed his gun and pulled the trigger: BAM! I closed my eyes for what seemed like a year but was in fact more like three seconds and then I opened them and looked right into the face of a confused looking cashier saying “Sir? Sir? Will that be all for you?” I paid the man and with great effort walked back to my car without shaking or staggering. I couldn’t understand any of this. Why was it happening and why to me?
I finally arrived at work and went directly to my desk with minimal small talk and I just sat there lost in thought for almost five minutes before I shook my head and resolved to get on with my day. I logged on to my computer, took a look a few papers on my desk and then decided that a cup of coffee would really help to settle my nerves. In the coffee room I grabbed a cup, creamer and sugar and was all set to pour myself a cup when I noticed the light was out on the coffee maker. I felt the pot and it was indeed cold. “Time to brew a fresh pot, no problem.” I told myself. I prepared the coffee and then hit the power switch and the light still did not come on. This was when I noticed that it was not plugged in. Reaching to insert the plug into the receptacle, a split second before I was done I noticed a nice sized pool of water leaking from the refrigerator covering almost the entire floor of the break room. When I pushed the plug into place I felt a bolt of lightning rage through my body and my nostrils filled with the smell of burning clothes – my clothes. I screamed and closed my eyes. After a three second eternity I opened my eyes to see a full coffee pot in front of my as I stood there with cup in hand. I looked at the clock; it was only 9:15am.
I left work early that day and after much reflection I eventually came to terms with a few very important lessons. ONE: There are many very real tragedies occurring in our world everyday. Each day that disaster isn’t arriving at my doorstep is a blessing for which I must find gratitude; and TWO: don’t ever, ever, ever, ever eat burritos in the middle of the night.
DrewPillow.com 