Facing death makes life sweeter

April 22, 10:17 AMNorthern California Getaways ExaminerMichele Bigley

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We were out for a walk during the tail end of the recent April heat wave, when a woman pinballed a screaming red hatchback up Cortland Avenue crashing into bus stops and cars before plowing directly toward us. Always quick-witted, Eddie grabbed our 21-month-old son, and we all jumped up on a stoop as (luckily, for my family) a green VW received the blow that finally stopped the car.

This is not the first time I have faced death.

Usually these tragic happenings occur on vacation. I was once sunbathing on a Los Angeles beach when a bomb washed ashore (the bomb squad came and diffused that situation). On take off from Mexico, my plane was struck by lightning. I was once chased through the Vietnam jungle by a snarling monkey. A hungry lion entered my camp in Kenya only to be scared off by a guy with a machine gun; then the next day an elephant nearly charged our safari vehicle. I almost flew out of the back of a dune buggy in northeast Brazil. And the list unfortunately goes on.

Yet, I continue to travel and continue to encourage people I know and love to travel. Why? You never know when the end will come. And, as Eric Weiner writes in The Geography of Bliss, “…think about death for five minutes every day. It will cure you.” Maybe what we need right now, in these dark economic times, is to remember the mere fact that we are alive. And maybe the only way to do this is to turn off our cell phones, walk away from the computer, and sit for five minutes being thankful that we woke up this morning.

For me, vacation usually affords me the time to do this. And hopefully you will not need a run in with your mortality to appreciate that though your wallet might be slightly lighter, your heart still beats, your kid still cries and laughs, and you can still curse being crammed in a sweaty Mission bus with too many other stinky people. Life is much better than the alternative.