Lithp… Lithp…. Lisp!
When I was a child, my lisp was so severe, they projected only 35 percent of all people could understand me. How is that for frustrating. On top of it all, I got picked on for it. Years and years of speech therapy, almost completely fixed it.
So what happened? Well. Here goes the story.
I can go ahead and say that through the years of high school, odds are good my lisp slipped a little bit. There is a chance between tongue piercings and just not caring to try, my mouth got a little lazy. But, my lisp was never very noticeable unless you were listening for it. Until that night.
I believe it was a Monday. A bunch of people and I had gone out after a long night of serving tables. We were all stressed, and ready to drink. Sounded like a fine idea. I won’t go into details of the night, because i don’t believe the details are relevant, but I will say that later in the evening, I blacked out. What happened from there is non existent in my mind, but happened non-the-less.
Around 4:30 in the morning a friend asked me to take them home. I said yes, and I started driving. I don’t know for the life of me why, but we were on I-20. I guess that is the time I started getting tired. The police believe that I dozed off. They said that I probably fell asleep, and my foot pressed harder on the gas. They said they think my hand probably dropped, but turned the wheel to the left. They said I was lucky to live. They said, at around 70-80 MPH the car hit the Median. They said, the car immediately shot to the right and off of the highway. They said that the jaws of life had to get me out of that car. When I woke up at the hospital the next morning, I had no clue what was going on. It didn’t take me long to figure out, someone had gotten us into a car accident. (Had no clue it was me!) It took me even less time to realize, I did not have a tongue. Shortly after I woke up, a plastic surgeon was able to come and reattach my tongue. I don’t remember how many stitches it took, but it was a lot. I do remember solid foods was not possible for about five weeks, and I remember re learning how to talk was very difficult, and my S’s are and never will be the same.
I still pray about that night, and thank God I did not kill anyone. I still thank God that he carried me through that. I lived through an accident that should have killed me. I lived through it! I don’t always know why, and it takes a lot of meditation for me to realize that I am obviously here for a reason. The exact reason? I don’t know, but to glorify God is definitely on the agenda. I am thankful to be alive, and I consider every breath I take a blessing now. It took me a few years after that to really get it, but I get it. and now I realize, life is a beautiful gift. A gift I have been given time and time again. Let me ask you.
