An Awesome Accident

Zigzagging through the aisles of a popular local bookstore, a petite woman in a motorized wheelchair zoomed past every section until she crashed into a metal shelf of hardcover books. Suddenly her chair came to a screeching halt as the tower of books tumbled down, burying the 26 lbs. lady with a rare condition known as Osteogenesis Imperfecta (more commonly known as "Brittle Bones"), in the pile of hardcovers. Her tiny body flew off the edge of her seat sending her catapulting amidst the mountain of Neil Pasricha’s “Book of Awesome.”

In that very moment, the tiny woman felt far from awesome as her femur snapped with flashbacks of her forty years of life pounding through her head. She struggled to open her eyes as she blacked out and every memory spun her into oblivion. The echoes of her heart beat grew louder and louder with every second that passed by until an angel picked her up and cradled her into her arms.

Sirens screamed as the little lady began to sweat profusely, unable to identify where she was when the paramedics came to her rescue! All she could think of was the searing pain that ran through her right leg above her knee. As soon as the paramedics arrived on-scene, a light brown-haired man in uniform began to interrogate her.

“What is your first and last name? Do you know where you are? How did you get here? Do you have a driver’s license?”

“1. Eliana See 2. I’m on the floor in a pile of “awesome” books but clearly, I am not so awesome right now. 3. I drove myself here on my electric wheelchair that keeps stalling. 4. My license was revoked last month after I had a mental breakdown.”

Eliana proceeded to tell the young paramedic the series of events that led up to her Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Just before Christmas last month, her ailing husband collapsed on their kitchen tile floor and life would never be the same after that chaotic night at the dinner table. Police had pronounced him dead from Cardiac Arrest on the scene. He would be the only person to ever shower her with reminders of how amazing she was to overcome the physical and mental challenges of living inside the body of a toddler, all the while never being able to achieve much more than just a simple smile and hello to everyone she encountered.

A dark curtain closed in on the window to her happiness as Eliana stopped eating. Every smell of meat, reminded her of Dan who could whip up the best juicy steak every week for dinner. He was a carnivore and even though it was not Eliana’s favourite, she would swallow every morsel that he put on her plate. Instead of her usual glass of Pepsi with her meal, Eliana began a nightly habit of guzzling down a shot of Whiskey, which was the equivalent of a gallon for you, the average sized middle-aged adult like Eliana.

Eliana’s eyes began to dialate as the interrogation continued while she squawked and screamed. Just as her pupils rolled to the back of her head, a warm giant hand stroked her hair as a man’s plea for her to wake-up echoed in her foggy mind. Stay with me. Stay with me. Don’t quit now, the voice said. In a haze of confusion, Eliana heard a familiar voice begging her not to pass out and fall unconscious. From her periphery, the sliver of light she could see, reflected the silhouette of a youthful male being that reminded her of a fire fighter or a policeman. He was neither nor. He was the paramedic that saved her at the bookstore and accompanied her to the hospital where her leg was plastered in fluorescent pink gauze that dried into a fiberglass cast around her femur. The femur is the biggest bone in your body but no matter how big you would envision it, Eliana’s femur reminded paramedics of the BBQ’d turkey drumstick you would see hanging from the BBQ meat booth of the summer festival that everyone would come to enjoy from all over the world!

One month after Eliana’s most embarrassing moment at the bookstore, her bright cast was removed and she could resume as best as she knew how, even though she was still grieving and feeling her all-time low. Eliana stopped drinking Whiskey knowing the effects it would have on her, so one morning as she sat at her favourite corner table sipping on her morning coffee, she looked straight ahead and from the corner of her eyes, a tall young man in a dark navy blue shirt smiled at her and introduced himself.

She could not help but rewind her mental picture to her early days of having just been married yet still feeling inadequate because she was not tall and most of her life she was mocked or made fun of. Questions played repeatedly in the back of her head about why anyone would ever consider her to be awesome and amazing! Friends and family members tried to remind Eliana of her self-worth which she buried along with her late husband’s body.

Although her PTSD and vertigo became milder after reuniting with the paramedic that saved Eliana, she realized how precious her life was too. Eliana couldn’t shake off all the images that flashed before her, but she could thank the beautiful young man for giving her renewed hope and energy. She was sure he was a real human being in flesh, mind and soul from the vivid image that kept popping up in her sleep.

The giggles and gasping of air in between each breath orchestrated a song of survival as a mysterious man in uniform smiled and the tickle upon Eliana’s lips sent her eyes flying open only to see the paramedic standing over her asking, “How are you feeling? We almost lost you for a moment, there, Eliana” and the two hugged in a tight embrace. Looking down at his big-boned hands, she spotted a shiny silver object that signified his union with the little lady he almost lost so many times. Alas, this was confirmation that they had been connected in an empowering way that nobody would ever fully comprehend as love remains a mystery and gratitude is all that sustained them in this awesome tale of love.