I’m a brand strategist by day, so I love a good statistic. I even devoted an entire screenplay to one: over sixty percent of those who have a near- death experience will divorce.
I can attest to a profound, transformative event shifting your world. Eight years ago, on my birthday, a tree fell on top of my toddler and I. There were no bright lights. No life before my eyes. Just a sharp, resolute clarity. I braced, then… Nothing.
We were cocooned by what felt like an invisible shield and walked away without a scratch. I don’t need any other validation that miracles are real.
I recently discovered that Horace, the Roman poet, lyricist and satirist who coined CARPE DIEM, also survived a falling tree and credited his life to the protective arm of Fauna, the woodland god.
I found great comfort in his poem that went through the same layers of rage, acceptance and finally wonder that my own close call awoke in me.
Now, I’m left with gratitude. It sharpened our focus, and we welcomed our second child nine months after that fateful day.
And any time I need perspective, I take a trip to Prospect Park and commune with the tree that picked me. www.pantheonpoe/curse-you-tree
