Oprah says that life speaks to you in a whisper.  I have a hard time paying attention to the whispers, even though I do believe that things don't usually just happen to people out of the blue.  Our lives are so cluttered with obligations, technology, careers, family, relationships and general noise that quiet intuition is so hard to hear.  It's not hard, however, to come up with a list of gut feelings I've had, even thinking over only the last week.  From the whisper telling me to keep someone I love from having another drink, to something that said this student is not JUST having a bad day.  One feeling I ignored and the other I acknowledged, and the results were obvious.

The loudest whisper I've heard in awhile happened yesterday, and I won't be avoiding the message.  I left Mom's house to drive home to Rockwall, and had not made it out of the neighborhood before I turned around to find Hazel asleep.  As I turned back around to face the road, I saw a little boy on a bicycle riding in the middle of the street, heading toward my front bumper.  He was enjoying the day, oblivious to my presence.  Because I was paying attention, I had enough time to move over and avoid hitting him, but if I had been texting, or tending to Hazel, or choosing a new album for the ride home, I would have probably killed him.  I had a flash in my mind of how my life could have changed in that instant.  I saw myself holding that kid in the street while Hazel screamed from her car seat.  I imagined his parents and paramedics arriving on the scene.  I shuddered thinking about how many times I've heard the whisper telling me to pay attention while I'm driving and let everything else wait for later.

I will block out the noise.  I will NOT take my eyes off the road.