My Lucky Escape

I've never celebrated the V-day the traditional way for over a decade now. I always believe that everyday is a special day for me. There were several occasions wherein my life was put into tests (literally between life and death situations).

One unforgettable day was when my twin sister and I got almost killed when 3 grenades exploded inside the church back home in the Philippines (1990's). It was a regular Sunday mass filled with hundreds and hundreds of devotees. We always had a favourite spot to stay inside the church. For some reason, minutes before the blasts both of us decided not to finish the mass because we had a very eerrie feeling and all the songs sang were really solemn and it was like singing in a funeral (not the usual jolly songs in that time of the day). We walked out the church and went home. We never realized that 3 grenades were thrown and 1 of which exploded at the same spot we were both standing few minutes ago. We just realized the incident happened when we reached home because my family and relatives knew that we were there at the mass. The look of relief on their faces said it all. I was trully shocked and it was indeed a lucky escape! God saved us!

I haven't slept yet the night before the incident since I was working on night shift at the hospital. Still contemplating on eveything that had happened, few hours later, I got a phone call from my Senior nurse that I had to go to the hospital to help them since there were hundreds of victims from the grenade blasts that need to be treated. We were running out of hospital staff. I did go even though I hadn't slept for 24 hours already. I had to stay in the hospital ward for another 12 hours. There was no way I could feel the lacked of sleep mode that time.

I literally saw the physical and psychological damages of the grenade victims had to go through. The broken bones, amputated limbs, embedded shrapnels to be operated, the crying and shouting of the victims and families, body counting, etc. The parking area was transformed into a hospital ward. It was like in the war zone! Thinking I would had been there getting the treatment or even counted as one of the bodies inside the body bags.

From then on I just live my life in a day to day basis. Maybe I still have a mission in life. Thats what I've learned from the incident. It was a life changing experience. Always say " I LOVE YOU" to the person you love. Make them feel special all the time. Not just on special occasions. We will never know what lies ahead of us. Just enjoy your life to the fullest. Life is too short to be wasted!